anislandchef

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It’s all Greek to Me – The Secrets of a great Greek Salad

It’s all Greek to Me – The Secrets of a great Greek Salad. It’s been hot, almost too hot to eat. What I crave at times like this is simplicity, dishes packed with fabulous flavours. Recipes with little or no preparation using great ingredients. We are lucky in the Channel Islands to get some great salad vegetables and with just a few additions that means anyone can make a beautiful Greek Salad.…

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Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns are spiced bread rolls made with an enriched dough. You will recognise them marked with a cross and traditionally eaten today, Good Friday. Traditionally you eat them to mark the end of Lent.

What is a Hot Cross Bun? Hot Cross Buns are spiced bread rolls made with an enriched dough. You will recognise them marked with a cross and traditionally eaten today, Good Friday. Traditionally you eat them to mark the end of Lent. The cross signifies the cross from the crucifixion. The spices used to flavour the dough are thought to represent the spices used to embalm Jesus’s body. The extra…

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My Spicy Prawn, Potato, and Sausage Parcels with Peppers and Red Onions

My Spicy Prawn, Potato, and Sausage Parcels with Peppers and Red Onions. Batten down the hatches we have almost a whole week of rain, hail, thunderstorms, and blustery gale force winds. Jersey has been pretty battered. It would be nice to think we would be seeing the first few signs of Spring but that’s island life. So, Friday night when it’s blowing up a storm it’s time to cook up a tasty treat…

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Soy Sauce Chicken See Yao Gai 豉油鸡

Soy Sauce Chicken See Yao Gai 豉油鸡 is traditionally a whole chicken braised in an aromatic master stock made from soy sauce. In China a master stock is used again and again, each use imparting more flavour into the stock. For health and safety reasons I don’t advise that you use your stock again and again but if you have any of the broth left you can freeze it and use it second time. Soy Sauce…

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Ooh la la my take on a delicious French classic – Salade Parisienne

Salade Parisienne is a French bistro classic, the kind of dish you will find in little family-owned zinc bars and cafés. It relies on fresh ingredients simple prepared and served without a lot of fuss.

Ooh la la my take on a delicious French classic – Salade Parisienne. It is not quite the depths of a bleak mid-winter, but it is a strange hinterland. I heard it described today as Midfest, and it’s the strange time between Christmas and the New Year. Your children are still on holiday from school. Some people you know are back at work while others are still on holiday. You may be eating out with…

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What to do with your Christmas Leftovers?

What to do with your Christmas Leftovers? I guess the first question is what did you cook for your Christmas Lunch? Turkey? Ham? Popping up on lots of foodie social media are lots of turkey curries right now and plenty of festive pasta bakes but what can we do with our Christmas leftovers that doesn’t involve curry or pasta. In a professional kitchen Réchauffé is “a warmed-up dish of food,” made…

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Reindeer Gingerbread Biscuits

Gingerbread can either be a spiced biscuit cut into shapes such as a heart or human figure or a sticky cake made with molasses or honey. Decorated gingerbread biscuits are one of the festive seasons most popular bakes.

Reindeer Gingerbread Biscuits. Gingerbread can either be a spiced biscuit cut into shapes such as a heart or human figure. Or gingerbread is a sticky cake made with molasses or honey. Decorated gingerbread biscuits are one of the festive seasons most popular bakes. From elaborately decorated gingerbread houses used as table centre pieces to Christmas gingerbread men made to hang on your…

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My Six favourite Sweet Seasonal Treats

My six favourite sweet seasonal treats. Do you have festive recipe that you make every year? Christmas baking starts early in our household when we make the Christmas cakes before the end of summer. We always follow this by making mincemeat for my serious mince pie addiction. But with Christmas just around the corner here are my personal favourite festive bakes and my recipe for a Baileys hot…

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My Bûche de Noël or Chocolate Yule Log

My Bûche de Noël or chocolate Yule Log is a delicious traditional festive dessert recipe and a must for chocoholics.

My Bûche de Noël or Chocolate Yule Log. One of the first things I can remember making every Christmas with my mum was a chocolate Yule log. Or to give it its rather grander name Bûche de Noël. Bûche de Noël is very popular in France, where it probably originated. The first recipes appeared in the early 1890’s. The tradition of a Yule log is believed to date back to early pagan celebrations for…

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Baked Potatoes with Ratatouille

Baked Potatoes with Ratatouille. Today’s Meal Mates recipe is a great dish to make for loads of people. Very little extra effort is required to cook the dish for two or ten. A really simple and hearty dish, perfect for families and vegan friendly .

Baked Potatoes with Ratatouille. Today’s Meal Mates recipe is a great dish to make for loads of people. Very little extra effort is required to cook the dish for two or ten. After a busy day at work or running around at the weekend this is a really simple and hearty dish, perfect for families and vegan friendly. Baked Potatoes with Ratatouille What is Ratatouille? Well for a start its one of…

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Jersey Royals, Asparagus, Pesto, and Goat’s Cheese salad with poached Egg

This dish is made with lots of seasonal produce including Jersey Royals and local asparagus. The secret however is the homemade pesto which is well making the effort to make. You can keep it in the fridge for up to a week.

Jersey Royals, Asparagus, Pesto, and Goat’s Cheese salad with poached Egg. Earlier this week my local Jersey newspaper included a supplement showcasing local businesses, heritage, and food on the island. I was proud to be asked to produce four seasonal recipes to be included. Just before we really hit summer is my first Spring influenced recipe. Unfortunately, you will have to wait for me to post…

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Swedish style Meatballs and Buttery Mash

I think the last time I watched the Eurovision was as a student and coincidentally that was also when I visited Scandinavia. I can remember the beautiful scenery. The scarily expensive beer and the meatballs.

Swedish style Meatballs and Buttery Mash. Last weekend Sweden won the 2023 Eurovision song contest. I think the last time I watched the Eurovision was as a student and coincidentally that was also when I visited Scandinavia. I can remember the beautiful scenery. The scarily expensive beer. Mountains of delicious seafood. Smorgasbords. Brunost, a creamy caramel flavoured whey cheese. And of…

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Colourful Rainbow Cookies

Did you know its World Baking Day? So we decided to have a family bake and make tasty, fun Colourful Rainbow Cookies

Colourful Rainbow Cookies. Did you know this week is World Baking Day? However, there seems to be some confusion about the exact date. It could be the seventeenth or the twentieth. But the girls and I don’t need an excuse to bake on any day. They have been asking for a while for us to make rainbow cookies. We made them previously for a birthday and they are a firm favourite. Colourful Rainbow…

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Grilled Lamb cutlets, New season Potatoes, Asparagus and Beernaise sauce

Grilled Lamb cutlets, New season Potatoes, Asparagus and Beernaise sauce. For me Spring conjures up a host of golden daffodils. New born foals in the fields. Sorry I got a little carried away there. Spring is the season of renewal and there are lots of fresh exciting things to cook and eat. This recipe includes four of mine so is pretty much a winner. Lamb, asparagus, delicious Jersey potatoes…

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A dish truly fit for a King? A Kind of Coronation Chicken Curry

A dish truly fit for a King? A kind of Coronation Chicken Curry. My take on a culinary classic.

A dish truly fit for a King? A kind of Coronation Chicken Curry. Today was the coronation of King Charles III of England and lots of other countries. You might have seen it on the television. I have been working so am only able now to do something a bit special for tea. Earlier this month, Buckingham Palace the King’s official London residence unveiled a recipe for a coronation quiche and it has…

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Great tasting Tuna Pasta

what I can cook from the cupboard that’s tasty and filling and really easy for a mid-week meal. What's more what is great as a Meal Mates recipe to share. Great tasting Tuna Pasta.

Great tasting Tuna Pasta. Warning you might want to skip straight down to the recipe! I started to write quite a simple post and it’s turned into a step-by-step how to cook the perfect pasta. The inspiration for this recipe is Rome. I’m really jealous as my eldest daughter is going there this summer and she gets to eat all of the amazing food. One of the classic Roman dishes is Cacio e…

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Pea, Mint, and Spring Onion Soup

Pea, Mint, and Spring Onion Soup. I love making soups all through the year. Some of the best soups are really easy like this post. I think the secret to a good soup is to let the flavours of the main ingredients shine through.

Pea, Mint, and Spring Onion Soup. I love making soups all through the year. Chilled summer soups like Gazpacho. Classic soups like French Onion or Minestrone. Soups recipes can be complex like a rich shell fish bisque but most are not so complicated. Some of the best soups are really easy like this post. I think the secret to a good soup is to let the flavours of the main ingredients shine…