Bruschetta

 Simplicity is the order of the day.....

Ingredients:

• 8 ripe tomatoes - deseeded and diced
• 10 basil leaves finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic - crushed
• 1/2 small onion - finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of basamic vinegar (you can add more!)
• salt and pepper to taste (and a little sugar if the tomatoes are not sweet)
• 4 tbsp of good quality extra virgin olive oil
• Crusty loaf cust into thick slices

Mix the ingredients together and leave in the fridge for an hour or so to marinate but remove 30 mins before serving.

Toast the bread on both sides until golden then spead the mixture generously onto the toast and serve.

This together with a glass of wine in front of the TV - simplicity at its best.

Kedgeree

 A firm favourite in our house! I tend to serve with Mango Chutney as a condiment....

Ingredients (serves 2/3 ish):

• 220g of smoked haddock
• 1 cup of long grain rice (I use basmati as I have a sack of it!!)
• 15ml of lemon juice
• 75ml of single cream
• pinch of grated nutmeg
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 2 hard bolied eggs cut into wedges
• 25g of diced butter
• fresh parsley
• salt & pepper

Place the haddock in a frying pan and cover with water and then poach for about 10 mins. Remove from the pan and remove the skin and any bones. Reserve the liquid for the rice as below.

The volume of rice needs to have double the quantity of cooking liquid. If there is not enough, then top up with water. Bring this all to the boil and simmer for about 15mins. Preheat the oven to 180degC.

Remove the rice when tender and stir in the lemon juice, cream, flaked fish, nutmeg and cayenne pepper. Stir in the eggs with care and then transfer the whole mixture into a buttered baking dish and dot the top with the butter as well. Bake for about 25mins.

Serve with a little chopped parsley, check the seasoning and add Mango Chutney to the side if you fancy it! As the fish is salty, check first before adding any salt. For a richer dish, the rice quantities can be reduced and the haddock and cream can be increased.

Enjoy....