Chilli Pasta, Fennel and Walnut Salad

This month Pasta Please is being hosted by Shaheen at Allotment to Kitchen and the theme is chilli! 

Pasta Please is a blog event whose home is with Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes, but it  is often out and about with guest hosts which gives it a new lease of life.

The Chilli theme gave me another opportunity to use my Galloway Chilli Original jam.  This is a very hot chilli jam so you only need a very little to boost up your dishes.

Chilli Pasta, Fennel and Walnut Salad 
Serves 4 for a light lunch

225g good quality pasta, cooked in boiling salted water, drained and cooled in cold water, then drained again.
1 large tomato chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1/4 cucumber, diced
1/2 fennel bulb, chopped
50g walnut pieces

Dressing
1 tbsp mayonnaise
3 tbsp natural yogurt
1 tsp chilli jam (or to taste)
1 tsp honey
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Mix the salad ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients together and season to taste.
3. Mix the dressing into the pasta and vegetables, cover the bowl and leave for flavours to mingle for about 20 minutes.

I served the salad on lettuce leaves but you can just eat it as it is or serve it with other salads.

Labels: chilli, chilli jam, Fennel, pasta, salad, tomatoes, walnuts

posted by Janice @ 19:37 3 Comments

Paprika Spiced Mixed Nuts

This is a very quick and easy recipe to make some lovely spicy nuts to nibble with your drinks on Christmas Eve or before dinner on Christmas Day.  They are also perfect for a last minute gift.

Paprika Spiced Mixed Nuts

500g mixed nuts
1 1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp smoked sweet Spanish paprika or hot paprika (Pimenton)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1.  Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the sea salt and paprika in a mortar and grind with the pestle to a fine powder. 
2. Place the nuts on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and giving off a tasted aroma.  Watch after 7 minutes because they burn quickly.  Pour into a heatproof bowl.
3. Drizzle over the olive oil and stir to ensure all the nuts are lightly and evenly coated.  Add extra oil if necessary.  Sprinkle with the salt and paprika mixture and stir again.
4. Transfer to a small bowl and serve at room temperature.


I used the hot Pimenton and the nuts are not too spicy, just nicely piquant!  Perfect with a nice chilled glass of Fino Sherry, red or white wine or even a beer.

Labels: almonds, brazil nuts, hazel nuts, homemade gifts, mixed nuts, Nuts, paprika, pimenton, smoked paprika, snacks, walnuts

posted by Janice @ 12:09 8 Comments

Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake

One of the most fun opportunities which has come my way as a blogger has been the #BoothsCheers Twitter Party. As a #BoothsCheers VIP, every week for six weeks,  I receive a delivery of wines and beers from Booths Food, Wine and Grocery Stores



Then on a Wednesday night, between 7pm and 8pm, it's time to taste the wines and beers, give your views and suggestions for what to eat with the wines using the Twitter hash tag #BoothsCheers. Now we have had forewarning that one of the bottles that will be delivered this Wednesday is a bottle of Croft Indulgence, Finest Reserve Port.  So I thought I should get prepared with something suitable to eat while tasting it.



I rarely prepare meals from scratch during the week, if I did it would be far too late when we finally sat down to eat.  So I tend to prepare meals at the weekend and put them in the fridge or freezer, ready to be popped into the oven to heat through.  I also often make double, so we had this bake tonight (Sunday) and will have it again on Wednesday.

Anyway there is some very obvious word association going on here: Port > Stilton >Walnuts.  I did think about making a flan but in the end decided to make a bake instead.

Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake

4 large potatoes
240g pack of smoked, dry cured streaky bacon
4 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
500g spinach

1/2 pint white sauce
1/4 tsp nutmeg
250g Stilton cheese
200g 0% fat Greek Yogurt
1 egg, beaten
75g breadcrumbs
50g chopped walnuts

1. Slice the potatoes, cover with a little boiling water and some clingfilm and blanch the potato slices in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Drain the water off and lay the potatoes in the base of an ovenproof casserole dish.
2.Chop the bacon into small pieces and dry fry in a large pan, turn down the heat slightly and add the onions and garlic.  Cook until softened. 
3. Add the spinach and put the lid on the pan, cook until the spinach has wilted.
4. Spread the mixture over the potatoes.
5. Crumble the Stilton and spread over the spinach mixture.

6. Make the white sauce add the nutmeg and season, but go easy on the salt as the cheese and bacon are both very salty.  Mix the egg with the yogurt and add to the white sauce, pour over the rest of the ingredients.
7. Cover the sauce with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the walnuts.
8. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 200C, remove foil and bake for a further 5 minutes to crisp the breadcrumbs without burning the walnuts.

Join me at the Twitter Party by following @BoothsCountry and tweeting with the hash tag #BoothsCheers on Wednesday night 7 - 8 pm, to find out how well my Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake goes with this week's special deals. Click through the link to find out more about the 12 Deals of Christmas, the Twitter Party and also the in-store tastings.

Labels: 12 deals of Christmas, bacon, Bake, beer, Booths, BoothsCheers, breadcrumbs, Port, spinach, Stilton, walnuts, wine

posted by Janice @ 12:00 5 Comments