Ratatouille

Try this tasty, fresh dish as an alternative to regular vegetables on the side or as a great accompaniment to meat and fish. I love it as a meal in itself but it's also wonderful with white fish or steak. I like my ratatouille to be quite saucy -if you prefer it dryer, don't add the tin of tomatoes. I think i'll be making plenty of this in the run-up to summer - I tend to make it in big batches and eat it with a variety of things throughout the week. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 Aubergines
2 courgettes
1 red onion
2 red peppers (you can use yellow pepper as well if you wish)
4 plum tomatoes
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
oil
basil
Tsp caster sugar

1. Chop the aubergine and courgette lengthways and then into chunks. Chop the peppers into slices and place vegetables into roasting tray. Season with salt and pepper and 2 tablespoons of oil. Place into oven on 180 degrees and roast for 40 mins or until soft. Stir occasionally.

2. Chop the onion and fry gently. Add the garlic and some chopped basil leaves.

3. Using a knife, make a cross on the bottom of each tomato and add to a bowl of boiling water. Leave for 1 minute and then remove and remove the skin (this should be easy, if not, place back in the water for a bit longer)

4. Chop the tomatoes and place into the pan with the onions and garlic. Add the chopped tomatoes and the sugar.

5. Once the vegetables are roasted remove from the oven and place into the tomato sauce. Season to taste and leave on a low heat for a further 15 minutes.

6. Serve with a sprig of basil.

A Spot of Baking - Blueberry and Pecan Muffin Cake

Trust Delia to invent a giant muffin that's big enough for you to share with other people. Ideal. Lovely for a teatime cake or a dessert and with all the fruit and nuts it's bound to be a little bit healthy! You can use any fruit or nuts you want.

Ingredients

275g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
170ml milk
75g (golden) caster sugar
2 eggs
110g unsalted butter
350g blueberries
1 tablespoon demerara sugar
75g pecan nuts (chopped roughly)

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees and cover the base of a 20cm cake tin in greaseproof paper.

2. Melt the butter over a low heat. 

3. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

4. Whisk the milk, caster sugar, eggs and butter together. Sift the dry ingredients from the other bowl into this bowl (if you can be bothered with double sifting it's good for the muffin texture).

5. Using a large metal spoon, fold the ingredients together quickly. Do not stir! It won't look too pleasant but that's fine. Quickly fold in 275g (approx) of the blueberries and spoon mixture into the tin.

6.  Sprinkle the remaining blueberries over the top followed by the demerara sugar and then the chopped pecans.

7. Bake cake in the centre of the oven for an hour and take it out when it feels springy in the middle. 

A Spot Of Baking - Tomato Tart

For a quick lunch I love making this tomato tart. So easy, tasty and fresh. I have to admit I've been lazy today (give me a break, it's Friday!) so I didn't make my own pastry - so I suppose this is cheats tomato tart! I've also made mini ones of these to serve as canapes at Christmas, which always go down well. 

Ingredients

2 eggs
3 tablespoons of creme fraiche
Desert spoon of dijon mustard
6 on the vine plum tomatoes (you can use any tomatoes but I like ones on the vine because they have more flavour - I've also used cherry tomatoes)
1 or 2 Spring onions
375g Puff Pastry
Thyme
Salt
Pepper
Cheese for grating (optional)


1. Take your puff pastry out of the fridge and set aside for 10-15 minutes. Line a baking tray with baking paper and roll out your pastry (you can get ready rolled pastry, which makes life very easy indeed). Fill the baking tray with the pastry and make sure the pastry is high enough on the sides. Using a fork pierce the pastry. 

2. Whisk the eggs and use a little to brush the sides of your tart. To the remaining egg mixture add the creme fraiche, mustard, thyme (in this one I used dried thyme but fresh is best), salt and pepper. Mix it and coat the base in some of the mixture.

3. Chop the tomatoes in slices (or half if you're using cherry tomatoes) and the spring onions finely. Cover the base evenly in the tomatoes (you can leave gaps between them) and then add the spring onions. Cover the tomatoes in the remaining mixture - there should be enough so it comes just about level with the tomatoes. You may want to grate some cheese on top to make it a bit cheesy!

4. Put in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the pastry is golden. 

5. Serve with a green salad and hey presto, lunch!