COBB SALAD

Have recently spent a few days in Miami and, as always when I go to the US, I have lived on cobb salads. Not the healthiest of choicest, but difficult to find a nicer combination of textures and flavours…and then there is that killer ranch sauce of course…

You need (for two people)
- 2 gem lettuce or a quarter of an iceberg lettuce, chopped very thinly
- 1 avocado (in small cubes)
- 60 gr of bacon (in small cubes)
- 1 egg (in small cubes)
- 2 tomatoes(deseeded and chopped in to small cubes)
- 60 gr blue cheese ( in small cubes)
- 80 gr chicken (in small cubes)

And for the sauce:
-two table spoons of mayonnaise (either our 'two minutes mayonnaise sauce or any shop bought one)
-  clove of garlic (minced)
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of chopped parsley, a pinch of chopped dill and a pinch of chopped chives (or any combination of these)
- a tablespoon of sour cream
- 200 gr of buttermilk ( of 75 ml of greek yogurt mixed with 125 ml of milk - if you want it runnier add more milk)
- a teaspoon of lemon sauce
- pepper

Mix all the salad ingredient. Separately mix all the sauce ingredients. Pour the sauce over the salad, mix well and eat.

My children often complaint when I serve salad.
Let me rephrase that: my children often complaint, period.
When it comes to salads, they  tend to eat it better if they help to make it.
Blue cheese is one step too far though.

BACON AND CHEESE MUFFINS

Have been travelling lots so could not cook much, but we are now back on track. I tried a mini version of these at a very stylish cocktail party, one of those Martha Stewart inspired events that only Americans seem to have the flair to put together. This is the less elegant but more substantial version of the muffins - ideal for breakfast or for an English picnic (if only the weather held up...)

You need:
 - 300 gr self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon of bicarb
- 120 gr bacon (into small cubes)
- 100 gr grated cheese (manchego or cheddar)
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of paprika
- a pinch to dried thyme
- 1 egg
-200 ml milk
- 50 ml single cream
- 2 tablespoons olive oil

A muffin tray.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.

Heat the pan and fry the bacon until it becomes crunchy (4-5- minutes over medium heat). Pour it on kitchen paper to get rid of the fat.
Mix the flour, bicarb, cheese, salt, paprika and thyme.  Then add the bacon.
Separately mix the eggs, oil, cream and milk. Pour it over the flour mixture and combine it all without over-mixing.
Put the mixture into the holes of the muffin tray ( this makes 12). Bake for 35-40 minutes. Let them cool down a little before you eat them.

PASHKA

My father in law is half Russian. I first tried pashka (an Easter Russian dessert) at a family celebration years ago and since then I bought a pashka mould to prepare it for him, but you can do this in a clean flower pot (with a hole at the base) or even with a colander.

You need:
500 gr cottage cheese (blend it so that it becomes smooth) or ricotta
150 gr creme cheese (full fat, I am afraid…)
200 gr soured cream
2 egg yokes
a pinch of salt
100 gr sugar
grated ring of an orange
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
two tablespoons of raisins
two tables spoons of sultanas
a handful of candied peel
a handful of sliced almonds

Mix the cottage and creme cheese with the soured cream, egg yokes and sugar. Beat well. Soak the sultanas and raisins in a bit of hot water for 15 minutes, drain them and then add them to the mixture. Then add all the remaining ingredients and mix it all well. Line the mould you are using with cheesecloth or muslim. Put the mixture into the mould, cover it with the muslin and put the mould on a dish to catch the excess moisture. Put  some weights on top of the pasta mould so that it drains well and leave it in the fridge for 24 hours. It should unmould easily.

We decorated it with candied cherries but you can decorate it with raisins or almonds. Also, the Russian pashka recipe is a bit like the Tortilla de Patata recipe in Spain - they all claim that theirs is best. So feel free to experiment a little by adding dried blueberries, cranberries or even candied ginger.

It is very filling  so you only need a little slice per person. It is traditional to eat it with yeasted Russian bread (Kulich) but it is also very nice with strawberries or berries.

SCALLOPS GALICIAN STYLE / VIEIRAS A LA GALLEGA

This is a traditional way to eat scallops in the north-west of Spain. You need:

 - 6 scallops or vieiras, as they are called in Spain .cleaned and with one-side shells- it is always worthwhile leaving them for an hour or so inside a bowl with cold water and a handful of salt as this eliminates any 'sand' within the scallops) If they are small you may want to use two 'vieiras' for each shell.
- 1 onion (diced thinly)
- 120 gr Spanish ham (iberico, serrano or at a push Parma ham) - also diced thinly.
- 100 ml white wine
- juice of a quarter of a lemon
- three tablespoons of fine breadcrumbs
- two table spoons of olive oil and then a drizzle for the final touch
- chopped parsley (1-1.5 teaspoons)
- salt

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
Heat the two tablespoons of oil and fry the onion (low heat) until it is soft (around 12 minutes). Then add the diced ham, wait for  3 minutes, increase the heat and add the white wine and lemon. Leave it on for 3-4- minutes until the wine evaporates. There is no need to salt this mixture as it has ham, but add a little bit of salt to the scallops.

Divide the mixture between the six shells of the scallops. Put a scallop on top of each filled shell. Mix the breadcrumbs with the chopped parsley (and a tiny bit more salt) and sprinkle a tablespoon of breadcrumbs on top of each scallop. Drizzle the breadcrumbs with a tiny bit of olive oil. Put the scallops on a tray and put the tray into  over for 15 minutes plus a couple of minutes under the grill so that they come out a bit brown on the edges. Eat immediately.

APPLE ROSE

This is our attempt at the apple roses that became popular a few months ago.
You need:
- a rectangular sheet of puff pastry
- 6 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 50 gr of butter (melted)
- a bowl with water (300 ml) and 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 4 apples.

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Slice the apples thinly and put them in the bowl of sugary water  -  microwave it for 5 minutes so that the apples become soft and drain them. Cut the puff pastry into slices ( 5 cms thick) across its shortest side. Place each stripe horizontally. Sprinkle the lower half of each stripe with brown sugar and place the apple slices over the top half overlapping them. Fold the lower side of the stripe over the apples and then roll the stripe from left to right. Butter a muffing tray and place each puff pastry roll into each muffin hole. Push the pastry a bit down with your fingers so that the rose opens up. Paint the apple with the melted  butter and bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another 12-15 minutes. Sprinkle with icing sugar.

Most recipes for apple roses use apricot jam, but brown sugar makes a nice caramel base, which works well with the puff pastry. Children enjoy eating this but find the whole process utterly boring, especially as I stupidly did not realise I was competing with France v England on TV - what was I thinking!

BASIL AND GOAT'S CHEESE LOLLIES

This is a crazy recipe. It comes from  Juan Mari Arzak who is truly outstanding Spanish chef. One of the very best-est  - not just in Spain, but in the world. These lollies are not the kind of thing that you would like to be served every day for lunch, but children like experimenting in the kitchen and trying novelty ingredients makes the cooking look a bit more like chemistry, which they enjoy. Arzak does this with parsley, but we tried with basil.
You need:
- 400 gr goat's cheese (cut into thick slices)
- 300 gr basil
- water
- skewers
-4 gr kappa  (Kappa is a natural vegetable ingredient that 'jellydifies' extremely quickly. You can buy 250 gr of kappa for &10.95 at http://www.amazon.co.uk/CARRAGEENAN-KAPPA-PREMIUM-QUALITY-POWDER/dp/B00G0RVEOI  It has a shelf-life of two years)

Blend the basil until it becomes liquid and add water until you get 200 ml of  'basil liquid'. Mix it with the 4 gr of kappa, put it in a pan, bring it to boil and as soon as it boils take it off the heat and let it cool down for 4 minutes. While it is getting cold, pierce  each piece of goat's cheese round with a skewer (as in the picture). When the kappa is cold, coat the cheese with the basil and kappa mixture. It really is magic: it solidifies in seconds. By the time you put the skewer on top of the table it would have already become solid.

The kappa coating  has a bit of a weird texture (but there again I do not like jelly). In any case, the flavour is good and it is fun to make. We'll try a sweet red version next with strawberries, cream cheese …  and the 246 gr of kappa that we have left!

RICE WITH VEGETABLES

This is a good way to prepare a lunch for the family on a budget. You need:

- an onion (diced)
- a red pepper (diced)
- a carrot (diced)
- 3 or 4 florets of broccoli (cut into bite size portions)
- half a courgette (diced)
- a couple of handfuls of frozen peas
NB.-except for the onion, the vegetables above are purely indicative, just use any leftovers you have in the fridge: beans, courgettes, green peppers, yellow peppers, butternut squash…

- a pinch of saffron  (if you do not have this of cannot afford it try yellow powdered food colorant instead, which is what most Spanish people use for paellas)
- a clove of garlic (do not peel it)
- half a lemon
- a pinch of parsley (chopped)
- salt
- a bay leaf
-3 tablespoons of olive oil
 - 400 gr rice (either the '10 minutes cooking' long rice that most supermarkets now sell or the normal long rice american variety)

Heat the oil in a shallow wide pan (medium heat). Add the onion, wait for a couple of minutes, then add the peppers and carrot and toss it all for a minute more or less. Add the other vegetables and parsley, reduce the heat and let it all fry for 6-7 minutes until the vegetables start burning on the edges.  Then add the half a lemon (with the flesh side down), wait for a minute and add the unpeeled clove of garlic. Add the rice and let it all fry for a minute or two. Add 580 ml of hot water, but before you add it put a bit of the hot water in a cup and dissolve the saffron or colorant in it. Add all the water to the rice. Add the salt and a bay leaf and let it all simmer for 10 minutes if you are using the 'fast rice' variety or 20 minutes if you are using normal rice. When all the water has evaporated take the pan off the heat and cover with a clean kitchen towel for a couple of minutes so that the rice rests. Discard the lemon and open the garlic clove (which should have become a garlic paste that you can mix with the rice) before serving it. Serve it with lemon wedges and if you wish with a  bit of mayonnaise mixes with a tiny but of grated garlic (which makes a fake 'alioli').