Category Archives: Recipes

Basically I love food and I love cooking so the idea behind the blog was to write down recipes that I had tried and those we’d liked and would want to eat again. As John began producing more and more food on the huerta, I wanted to make keep a record of recipes for certain foods that we could cook again in the years to come.

Lemon and Olive Oil Drizzle Cake

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LEMON AND OLIVE OIL DRIZZLE CAKE


Lemon and Olive Oil Drizzle Cake

This cake is made from lemons and extra virgin olive oil. It is one of the cakes that I make in the bread-maker.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 250 g sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 lemons
  • 120 ml olive oil
  • 100 ml milk
  • 275 g self-raising flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

For the drizzle

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 50 g sugar

METHOD

  1. The recipe uses 3 lemons. Zest all the lemons and use 2/3 of the juice for the cake and 1/3 of the juice for the drizzle.
  2. Place the silicone liner in an 18cm cake tin.
  3. Whisk together the sugar and eggs.
  4. Add the lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil and milk, and mix thoroughly.
  5. Fold in the flour and baking powder.
  6. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in the bread-maker on the BAKE cycle for about 1½ hours until cooked.
  7. Take the cake out of the tin and cool on a wire rack.
  8. Prepare the drizzle by heating the remaining lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan.
  9. Prick the top of the cake with a skewer and pour over the drizzle.

Prawn and Garlic Pasta

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prawn garlic pasta

 

PRAWN AND GARLIC PASTA

This prawn and garlic pasta dish is easy to prepare and takes about 15 minutes to make.

prawn and garlic pasta

INGREDIENTS

  • spaghetti or linguine
  • 360g frozen prawns
  • 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • a bunch of parsley with the leaves and stalks, finely chopped
  • 1 small tin of anchovies, finely chopped
  • a pinch of chilli powder
  • a can of tomatoes or 500g cherry tomatoes
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 glass of white wine
  • 2 tablespoons tomato sauce

METHOD

  1. Heat the water for the pasta in a large saucepan with a teaspoon of salt.
  2. Heat 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large, deep frying pan.
  3. Add the garlic, parsley and anchovies and grind in some black pepper.
  4. Fry for a couple of minutes and then add the tomatoes and tomato sauce and mash well to break up the tomatoes.
  5. Add the prawns, a splash of white wine and a knob of butter and mix well.
  6. When the pasta is cooked, transfer to a colander, saving back some of the cooking liquid.
  7. Put the pasta into the frying pan and mix well.
  8. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Celery and Roquefort Soup

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Celery and Roquefort Soup

This soup is quick and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 head of celery
  • 1.2 litres of vegetable stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 180g Roquefort or blue cheese
  • 1 jar chickpeas, drained (optional)

METHOD

  1. Wash the celery and cut in half.
  2. Put the celery into a pressure cooker.
  3. Add the vegetable stock and salt.
  4. Close the pressure cooker and bring up to pressure.
  5. Once it has reached pressure, turn down the heat and time 15 minutes.
  6. At the end of the cooking time, remove from the heat and leave to cool and release pressure.
  7. Add the blue cheese and blend with a stick blender.
  8. Serve.

NOTES

If you want a more substantial soup, add a jar of chickpeas and heat through. Otherwise it can be served with bread,.

Tzatziki Cucumber Salad

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TSATSIKI CUCUMBER SALAD

This Greek salad is made with grated cucumber and dressed with Greek plain yoghurt, minced garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and chopped mint.

Tzatziki

If you grow your own cucumbers, this is a great recipe for the summer if you have an overabundance.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • coarsely grated cucumber
  • 120g plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, pressed
  • a handful of finely chopped mint
  • 1 teaspoon salt

METHOD

  1. Put the grated cucumber in a colander and sprinkle with salt.
  2. Mix well with your hands, pressing to release as much liquid as possible.
  3. Cover with a small plate and place a heavy object on the plate.
  4. Leave a for about an hour and then squeeze again with your hands to remove any liquid.
  5. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl
  6. Combine the cucumber with the sauce and check for seasoning.
  7. Chill in the fridge beforehand.

 

 

Vegan chorizo

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SPICY VEGAN CHORIZO

This is a great recipe for spicy vegan chorizo and it doesn’t take long to make. Its main ingredients are sun-dried tomatoes and almonds, two things we have plenty of here at the cortijo.

The red pepper is roasted over a flame. Turn it a couple of times until the skin begins to blister and then pop it into a plastic bag. Before you need to add it to the mix, rub off the blackened skin.

Spicy Vegan Chorizo

This recipe is quick to prepare and tastes delicious.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 220g dried tomatoes
  • 200g raw almonds
  • 120g soft rolled oats
  • ½ large red pepper, roasted
  • 2 teaspoons dried garlic
  • 2 teaspoons dried onion
  • 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon spicy paprika
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

 

METHOD

  1. Steam the dried tomatoes over boiling water for 15 minutes.
  2. Transfer the tomatoes to a boil, add a splash of boiling water and cover.
  3. In the food processor, blend the almonds and oats until coarsely ground and then transfer to a separate bowl.
  4. Blend together the tomatoes and red pepper.
  5. Put the almonds and oats back in the blender.
  6. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse a couple of times.
  7. Divide the mixture in half.
  8. Roll out each half on greaseproof paper to form an even sausage shape.
  9. Roll up in the greaseproof paper and store in the fridge for 24 hours.