Begin by peeling and boiling the potatoes in salted water until just soft, small potatoes can be left whole, bigger potatoes should be cut into halves or quarters. Drain, cut into thick slices and put to one side.

While the potatoes are boiling cut the bacon into strips and grill until crispy. Also heat a large saucepan of water to boiling point, keep it on the boil, ready for the poached egg.

Once the potatoes and bacon are cooked it’s time to cook the haddock fillet and poach the egg. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and fry the haddock fillet for about 4 minutes, skin side up. Whilst the haddock is cooking add the potato slices to the frying pan to crisp up a little and turn golden brown.

Once the haddock is cooked remove from the pan and flake the flesh with a fork, removing the skin and discarding. Add the crispy bacon, and the potaotes to the fish and serve over a bed of lambs lettuce.

To poach the egg crack it into the saucepan of boiling water you prepared earlier – in good old Blue Peter fashion! Poach the egg for approx 3 minutes, for practically perfect timing begin poaching the egg just before you remove the fish from the pan for flaking. When everything else is on the plate the egg will just need placing on top.

Enjoy!

1. Greens Choose dark leafy greens as a base for a salad, spinach, watercress or romaine for example will add great flavour to a salad as well as being nutritious.

2. Nuts Add nuts or seeds to a salad to add protein and fibre. Walnuts, almonds, pecans, sunflower or pumpkin seeds all make great additions to a salad. Nuts and seeds can be high in calories but the fat they contain is the good fat our bodies need, so a handful as a topping to add some extra crunch to your salad is a great idea.

3. Fresh fruit A fruit salad is a great dessert, but why not add some fruit to your other salads too? Apple, pear, grapes, melon and mango all make great additions to a salad. Fresh fruit adds fibre and vitamins, is less carolific than dried fruit and well, fresh fruit just tastes great!

halthy eating

4. Protein Veggies taste great but they are not packed with protein, so to make a more rounded salad add some protein in the form of boiled egg, grilled chicken or salmon. Bacon bits are I know, God’s gift to the salad bowl, but they are not lean, oh go on then – just a sprinkle

5. Avocado You may be surprised at #5 as avocado is high in calories, but it is also packed with oleic acid, a healthy fat that may help lower cholesterol. Avocados are also high in potassium, vitamin K, and fiber. Try adding a few slices of this creamy textured fruit to your salad for something a little different.

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

½ tablespoon clear honey

1 teaspoon celery seeds (optional)

Salt and black pepper to taste.

Whisk all ingredients together until they are all well incorporated. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Score the skin of any number of your favourite toms. Then dip em in boiling water for no more than 20 seconds. After that, the skin should come off easily.

Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the wet bits. Eat the wet bits — they’re packed with vitamin C — or add them to your bolognese. Arrange the tomato halves on a greased baking tray and sprinkle with “hard” herbs, fresh garlic and some sea salt. Roast in a cool-ish oven for many hours. Four hours at 120°C is a nice start, but 24 hours @ 80 degrees is better. The end result depends on your oven, but the lower you set it, the better the outcome (providing you’ll roast em for longer). And of course your toms are less likely to burn in a cool oven.

At some point you may want to turn the tomatoes over. Also, be sure to discard most of the herbs and garlic after roasting.

Dried tomatoes like these will keep for a couple of weeks when immersed in oil. However: why not add them all to your mediterranean-style salad or eat the leftovers as tapas with a glass of wine?

Combine in a bowl a clove of garlic and one small shallot, both minced. Add to them around 4 tablespoons of assorted chopped fresh herbs, parsley, basil, tarragon are good but use any herbs you like.

Add approx 1/3 cup of cider vinegar to the herbs, garlic and shallot and mix well. Slowly blend in approx 2/3 cup of olive oil, whisking all the time, until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

If this was the Great British Menu this easy salad recipe would be described as a witty take on corned beef hash, there is always a witty take on something on the Great British Menu. I, however am lacking in wit so this is my reworking of the classic british dish, corned beef hash.

There are many recipes for corned beef hash, but as a rule it is a hot stew type dish, made with corned beef, potatoes, onion and carrots. It is often served with picked beetroot or cabbage on the side.

My recipe for a salad version of corned beef hash is easy to prepare and just as delicious as the original hot version.

To begin with boil some chopped salad potatoes in salted water, leaving the skin on, until tender. Drain and leave to cool. Around 3 potatoes per person is sufficient While the potatoes are cooling take a couple of cooked beetroots and a couple of carrots and grate or chop them, then put to one side, keeping them seperate.

Take a small red onion and finely chop, add the onion to the beetroot and mix well, pour over a little red wine vinegar, around two tablespoons, a teaspoon of sugar, mix well and season with salt and pepper.

Once the potatoes are cooled toss in a bowl containing a handful of chopped fresh parlsey and a little olive oil, just enough to coat the potatoes.

In a serving bowl arrange the beetroot and onion in a ring around the outer edge, then form a ring of grated carrot, then in the centre place the salad potatoes. On top of the potatoes place thin slices of corned beef and dress with a little cress or chopped parlsey. I used tinned corned beef as I would do for traditional corned beef hash.

And that’s it, my reworking of a classic british dish, corned beef hash salad! Enjoy

It is quite shocking, to me anyway, that people buy prepared salads. Salads are so easy and quick to make and they certainly do not need to be packed with calories and fat. Yes, you can make an indulgent salad but you can also make a healthy, low calorie, delicious salad in no time at all, and at a fraction of the cost.

“It is a good idea to try making salads yourself because this is the best way of knowing exactly what is in them.”

I couldn’t agree more with Nathalie Winn if I tried!

What I am really surprised about is that there are sooo many calories in one of McD’s cardboard big mac burgers, WOW who knew that about cardboard

You will need 1 can, around 16oz of ready to eat sweetcorn, the same amount of canned, ready to eat, kidney beans. Drain, and mix these together in a bowl. Add to these half a large red onion and half a red bell pepper, both chopped.

For the dressing mix together half a cup of apple cider vinegar, 3 tablespoons of clear honey, a good handful of chopped fresh parlsey and a garlic clove, minced. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Pour the dressing over the corn, kidney beans, onion and pepper and leave to marinade for at least 15 minutes before serving. A nice garnish would be a few lime wedges.

Enjoy!

First of all, choose a nice, cone-shaped, oven-proof bowl. The only thing I could find was a stylish oriental soup bowl, but it did the trick. Line the bowl with overlapping slices or strips of bacon, while making sure there are no gaps.
Next, take a good fillet of pork and slice it thinly. Start with a layer of pork on the bottom.

Finely dice a red onion and chop about 3 leaves of fresh sage. You can use more, but it will overpower the subtle pork flavour. You’ll also need a good handful of breadcrumbs. Of course I am lazy so I used a blender/chopper to whizz the onion, sage and breadcrumbs all at once.

Take a good dollop of the onion/sage/bread mix and layer it on top of the pork. Keep stacking until you’ve almost reached the top of the bacon lining. You can now also add some seasoning, like nutmeg or mace, but I’m not a fan of that so I left it out.

Make a little lid of more bacon, again making sure there are no gaps. My bacon was round so that was pretty easy. Put it in the oven for 40 minutes at 160 degrees or so. If your oven is a bit feeble, leave it in longer. The bacon is not really supposed to crisp up, but the pork inside should be cooked.

Let the bowl cool and put something heavy like a tin of beans on top to press it down. Leave to chill and set in the fridge. 4 hours will do, but you can also leave it for a day or two.

Gently take the terrine out of the bowl, wipe off some of the excess fat and cut into neat slices.

Finally, I presented mine on a little bed of a julienne of carrot and cucumber, but it will also go well with fruity stuff like apple or melon. Alternatively, go for some peppery leaves like field lettuce or rocket.

Major Joseph Tilden was in his time one of the most famous Bohemians and epicureans of the Pacific Coast. Ever since his death his many friends have been trying to learn the culinary secrets which made a repast of his devising so delicious. He had given his recipes to but few, and those few his most intimate friends and fellow spirits. One of the most favored of his old companions has given this complete collection of his recipes for publication.

San Francisco, May, 1907.

Boil separately two carrots, two turnips, and four potatoes. When cold, cut the vegetables into dice and mix them together, adding three apples peeled and cut into small bits. Toss in a large salad bowl with several olives for garnish. Bits of celery or cold cauliflower may be added. Pour over all a mayonnaise, or if preferred, a French dressing.

Another dressing that is excellent with this salad is one made of the yolks of four raw eggs beaten into half a glass of rich cream which may be either sweet or sour. To this add one teaspoonful of salt, one of mustard and a wineglassful of vinegar, blending carefully.

If you try this recipe, as I will be doing, please let us know and maybe share a photo