The perfect tomato salad

Tomatoes are just perfect, don't you agree?
I am quite happy to have tomatoes with every meal of the day.
Seriously, breakfast, lunch and dinner can all do with some tomatoes.

Today I was lucky enough to arrive home from work to a cooked meal courtesy of my mother. What a pleasure!

I just had to contribute a side dish so I made a very basic tomato salad.
It is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe which I found in one of my many cookbooks.

All you need are some tomatoes (as many as you like in all shapes and sizes, chopped), half a clove of garlic (crushed), some fresh basil leaves, sea salt and pepper, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

That's it.

Combine above ingredients in a bowl and toss well.
Serve and enjoy!

P.S. If you have the time you can halve the tomatoes, sprinkle with some sea salt and then let them stand for twenty minutes in a colander. This enhances the tomato flavour :-)

Macaroni Cauliflower Cheese Bake

By now you should know that I am a Jamie Oliver fan.
His recipes are just so easy to make and delicious.

This macaroni cauliflower cheese bake is from his Ministry of Food recipe book.

It is really simple and what I like most about it is that Heidi loves it too. What a great way to get her to eat some vegetables. Serve it with a big green salad and it should guarantee happy faces at the dinner table.

Here is Jamie's recipe, with my improvisations in brackets:

Serves 4 - 6

Half a head of cauliflower (I used the whole head of cauliflower)
200gr Cheddar Cheese (I didn't use cheddar, any slightly aged cheese will do)
100gr Parmesan Cheese
A bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley (I omitted the parsley)
Sea Salt
400gr dried macaroni (I used the whole packet i.e. 500 gr)
200gr creme fraiche

To prepare your pasta
Remove the outer green leaves from the cauliflower and discard. Slice the end off the cauliflower stalk. Cut the head into small florets. Halve the thick stalk length ways, then slice thickly. Grate the Cheddar and Parmesan into a large heatproof bowl. Finely chop the parsley stalks and leaves.

To cook your pasta
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the macaroni and all your cauliflower and cook according to the macaroni packet instructions. Place the bow of cheese over the saucepan and add the creme fraiche. Carefully stir every so often until the cheese is smooth and melted. If the water boils up beneath the bowl, just turn the heat down slightly. Add all the parsley to the melted cheese and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Carefully remove the bowl of cheese using a towel or oven gloves and put aside. Drain the macaroni in a colander over a bowl, reserving the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pan, pour in the melted cheese and stir. It should have a lovely, silky consistency, but if it is too thick for you, add a splash of your cooking water to thin it out a bit. At this point you can either serve the macaroni as is, or finish it under the grill to make it crispy and golden on top. To do this, preheat your grill to a medium to high heat. Add a 150ml of the reserved cooking water to the macaroni, stir in, then transfer to a baking dish. Place under the grill until golden and bubbling.

To serve your pasta
Divide the pasta between plates or bowls, or place the baking dish in the middle of the table next to a nice green salad and let everyone help themselves (that's what we did!).

Classic Tomato Spaghetti

Sometimes the most basic recipes are the best.

This classic tomato sauce is simply delicious.
You have to try it.

All you need is some spaghetti, olive oil, a can of tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, one red chilli pepper, Parmesan cheese and seasoning to taste. In my opinion these are basic ingredients that most of us should have in the house. And that is the beauty of this recipe, the simplicity of the ingredients.

It is also very quick and for someone like me it is great to be able to feed the family within half an hour of getting home from work.

Nothing beats the taste of a home made pasta sauce!

Thank you Jamie Oliver, for yet another winner of a recipe. Here is a link to a recipe which features this pasta sauce.

Jamie Oliver's lemon drizzle cake

It's my birthday, and I deserve a treat.

Lemon drizzle cake seemed like quite a treat to me :)

I found the recipe while browsing through my Cook with Jamie cookbook. Lemons, poppy seeds, cake. Doesn't that just sound delicious? Well I thought so.

It is very straightforward to make and it turned out lovely and very, very, very lemony.

Here is a link to to recipe on the Jamie Oliver website.
Scroll down if you want to see the Dutch version of the recipe.

If life hands you lemons, make a lemon drizzle cake!

Notes:
As usual I didn't follow the recipe exactly (I know, I know).
- I didn't line the cake tine with greaseproof paper - I just buttered it well and the cake came out no problem.
- I forgot to sieve the flour and once again, no problem there...
- I didn't have enough icing sugar so I used what I had in the house, about 50 gr less than in the recipe. Doesn't look like it made a big difference to the end result!


Recept:

nodig voor de taart:
115 gram boter, zacht geroerd
115 gram suiker
4 grote (biologische) scharreleieren
180 gram gemalen amandelen
30 gram maanzaad
geraspte schil en het sap van 2 citroenen
125 gram zelfrijzend bakmeel, gezeefd

nodig voor de citroensiroop:
100 gram suiker
90 ml citroensap

nodig voor citroenglazuur:
225 gram poedersuiker
de geraspte schil en sap van 1 citroen

BEREIDING:
Verwarm de oven voor op 180 graden Celsius of stand 4.
Vet de bodem en randen van een springvorm met een doorsnede van 20 cm in en bekleed hem met bakpapier.

Klop de boter en suiker met een elektrische mixer of houten lepel op tot een luchtige, romige massa. Klop de eieren er één voor één door. Voeg het volgende ei pas toe als de vorige helemaal is opgenomen.
Spatel de gemalen amandelen, maanzaadjes, citroenschil en -sap en de gezeefde bakmeel erdoor heen. Schep het mengsel in de springvorm en plaats het 40 minuten in de voorverwarmde oven, to het lichtbruin van kleur is.
Je kunt controleren of het gebak gaar is door een cocktailprikker middenin te steken. Haal hem na 5 seconden erweer uit. Is de prikker schoon en droog, dan is het gaar. Wanneer de prikker nog plakkerig is, moet het nog even in de oven.
Laat het gebak nog even in de vorm staan en stort het vervolgens op een rooster om volledig af te koelen.

Maak de citroensiroop door de suiker en het citroensap in een pan te koken tot alle suiker is opgelost. Prikin het hele oppervlak van het nog warme gebak kleine gaatjes met een coctailprikker en sprenkel daarna de siropp erover.

Zeef de poedersuiker voor het glazuur in een kom, doe de citroenschilrasp en het sap erbij en roer alles tot een glad papje. Leg het bijna afgekoelde gebak op een serveerschaal en schenk het glazuur er voorzichtig over. Als je op het midden van het gebak schenkt doet de zwaartekracht de rest! Een prachtig druipeffect!

Desgewenst kun je het effect een handje helpen met een lepel.