Simple Family-Friendly Half Term Recipes
With it being half term, we believe the best family activity is cooking! With our 5 simple yet delicious family-friendly recipes below, you’ll be able to get the whole family involved in this week’s cooking with smiles all round when it comes to the best part….eating!
Quick Tomato sauce
Check out our tasty and versatile tomato sauce, perfect for pasta, pizza and so much. For tips and to learn the principles for the perfect tomato sauce, click here
Ingredients
1 medium sized onion
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
dried oregano
salt and pepper to season
Method
1. Chop the onion.
2. Fry in a few tablespoons of olive oil and when it starts to turn golden brown, add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic.
3. Cook for a short while until the garlic turns translucent and then pour in the tin of chopped tomatoes and some dried oregano or parsley.
4. Bring the mixture up to the boil and then turn it down and let it cook until the sauce thickens
5. Season with a bit of salt and pepper and serve over some spaghetti.
White Bread
Ready to get those hands messy with our scrumptious and soft white bread?
This recipe makes about 16 rolls or 1 loaf
Ingredients
450g/1 lb or about 4 cups strong white flour
½ teaspoon salt
(12g) fresh yeast or (6g) active dried yeast or instant yeast
4 tablespoons warm water
4 tablespoons/¼ cup rapeseed or olive oil
275ml/1 cup warm water
pinch of sugar
Method
1. Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. If using fresh or active yeast, sprinkle the yeast and the sugar over the 4 tablespoons of warm water and allow to stand until the yeast is dissolved. If time, leave to stand in a warm place until the mixture begins to froth. (If using the instant yeast, omit this stage and mix the yeast with the flour and sugar, adding the all the water and oil in one go as below)
3. Pour the yeast mixture, oil and warm water into the flour and salt. Mix all together until a dough is formed. The texture of the dough should be like ‘play dough’. If using a food processor, blend together for 45 seconds with metal blade.
4. Using a floured surface, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and pliable. If it is too sticky, simply add a little flour to it until it becomes firm. If too firm, add a little more water.
5. Continue to knead until the dough is elastic and smooth.
6. Place the ball of dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic film and leave to stand in a warm place until it has risen to double its original volume.
7. Grease a baking sheet for rolls or 1 lb loaf tin for bread. Tin can be floured too if desired to make removal of bread easier.
8. When the mixture has doubled in volume, knock it down.
9. Then shape it into rolls or loaf. To make shaping easier, keep hands a little oily.
10. Again cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave to stand in a warm place until doubled in volume again. The bread will look beautifully ‘puffy’ at this stage.
11. If desired, glaze the top with egg yolk mixed with salt and a small amount of water, and sprinkle on any desired topping eg sesame or poppy seeds or sea salt and slash with sharp knife if desired.
12. Bake in oven 200ºC/400ºF for about 15 minutes for rolls. The rolls should be golden brown. A loaf should be baked for about 40 – 45 minutes.
13. Check that the bread is cooked by tapping on the bottom. It should sound hollow.
14. Place rolls or bread on cooling rack – if left in tin it will sweat. Do not place in sealed container for storage until completely cooled.
Fish Cakes
Time for a fabulous and freezer friendly fish cakes! For some friendly tips click here
This recipe makes around 6
Ingredients
1 213g tin of salmon – or tinned tuna will do too
1 egg
2 rounded tablespoonfuls of flour
Any chopped green herbs of choice
Method
1. Drop all of the above ingredients into a bowl.
2. Using a large spoon quickly mix them together, mashing the tinned fish as you mix.
3. Once mixed set aside whilst a frying pan with small amount of oil in it – just enough to barely cover the bottom – heats.
4. Do not heat the pan so that the oil smokes. You just want it good and hot.
5. Using the large spoon, drop rounds or ovals of the mixture onto the frying pan. The heat must not be too high as you want the fishcakes to brown on the inside and cook on the inside too.
6. You will probably make 6 fish cakes.
7. When the bottom of the fish cakes has browned, turn them over and fry the other side until golden too. They will crisp up beautifully as they fry.
8. Pop onto a piece of kitchen towel to remove any excess oil. As you are using very little oil, there usually is hardly any excess on the paper.
9. Serve hot or cold as delicious then too. These fish cakes love tomato ketchup!
Zero Waste Banana Ice Cream
As the weather heats up, create this sweet treat to cool things down! For helpful tips including how to get maximum flavour click here
Feeds 4
Ingredients
6 bananas
Method
1. Peel the banana and cut into chunks.
2. Freeze in layers in a suitable container, placing sheets of greaseproof paper between each layer of bananas so that they do not stick together as they freeze.
3. Using a food processor, place a small amount of frozen bananas in the machine at time. If you do too many at one time, the machine will be forced to labour and stop. It is worth being patient and doing about a cupful at a time.
4. Blitz the bananas and watch as they become smoother and, with additional blitzing, creamier.
5. Place the pureed frozen mixture into a container and freeze again until required.
6. A little rum drizzled over the top is a real treat for the adults or served alongside fruit salad for the kids and the non-drinkers.
Chicken Tikka
It`s time to fire up the BBQ and end the week or start the weekend with our foolproof chicken tikka recipe. If you like it more spicy simply add some more chili powder, for more tips click here.
Feeds 4
Ingredients
4 x 150g / 5oz chicken breast
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon chilli powder
Juice of 1 lemon
150g / 5oz natural yogurt
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 small piece root ginger (5cm), peeled and grated
2 tablespoons melted butter (ghee) or oil
½ teaspoon salt
Handful of chopped coriander, to serve
Method
1. Cut the chicken breasts into large cubes and place in a bowl.
2. Mix together the spices and gently heat in a dry frying pan for a couple of minutes. This is called ‘braising the spices’ and will bring out their full flavour.
3. Mix together the lemon juice, yogurt, garlic, ginger and spices.
4. Smear this mixture all over the chicken and leave to marinate for 6-8 hours. If you do not have time to do this, leave for as long as possible to tenderise the meat.
5. When you are ready to cook ensure your grill is very hot and if using an oven heat to 230C / 450F.
6. Place the melted butter or oil in a large baking dish (to allow for evaporation) and place the chicken in this.
7. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, turning once during this time. Then place under a hot griddle for a minute or two to brown before serving.
8. Sprinkle with coriander and serve with rice and wedges of lemon.
Category
Recipes
