I’ve had many messages this past week, wanting to know how to make my homemade sweet chilli sauce (which went with the crispy prawns), that I could almost feel your hunger and couldn’t wait any longer to give you the recipe!

This goes really well with Asian salads, stir fry’s and even drizzled on some smashed avo on toast!

Ingredients:

• 1 red pepper
• 2 long red chillis (if like it hot-keep in the seeds)
• 35g sugar
• 80g water
• splash of fish sauce
• splash of sesame oil
• juice of 1/4 lemon

Method:

• Pour the water and sugar into a pot and allow to simmer until it reduces to a sugar syrup (more sugar = more sweetness).
• Finely dice the chilli and red pepper and add to the sugar syrup while still hot.
• Add the fish sauce, sesame oil, lemon juice and season to taste.
• Let this cook on the stove for about 10 min .
• Enjoy!

Paris. The city of love. The birthplace of dreaming. The hub of art and literature and culture and everything très cool. But most importantly Paris is the city where I tasted the best croissant of my entire life. The Parisians pride themselves on their Frangipane, which is a melt-in-your-mouth pastry cake made with ground almonds and all things heavenly. It is a special tradition, made and eaten around Christmas and the first few weeks of the new year.

Inspired by this cake and by their many artisan patisseries, I created a ‘Ceire’s Kitchen’ version of their Sables biscuit. Perfect with a cuppa tea or even better, some mulled wine…

Ingredients:

• 150g flour
• 50g almond meal
• 100g butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 1 egg
• teaspoon vanilla essence
• 40g dark chocolate

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180’C
• Cut butter into small cubes and combine with the flour and almond meal until it resembles bread crumbs (use an electric mixer as it’s much quicker).
• Mix in the sugar and vanilla essence
• Break in the egg and mix gently by hand.
• Roll out mixture until 1cm thick and use round cookie cutters to cut into shapes.
• Bake for 10min or until golden brown.
• Chop up dark chocolate into small pieces and melt in microwave.
• Using a spoon, artistically drizzle the melted chocolate onto your biscuits.
• Voilà !

When in Spain, do as the Spanish!

One of my all time favourite breakfasts in Spain was: fresh baguette rubbed with garlic, thick slices of tomato, salt, cracked pepper and lashings of olive oil. Wow! The simplicity and quality of these ingredients! After our week in Spain, I felt inspired to cook and eat in a new way.

Walking through the streets of Madrid and Barcelona we saw guys cooking paella on huge open pans – a bit of a theatrical show at times!

Cooking this dish might seem a bit touristy and overdone, but it encapsulates some values which I hold dear: using what you’ve got, using whats plenty and making lots for unexpected visitors who might pop by with an empty stomach.

Ingredients:

(feeds 4 people)

• 1 cup long grain rice (add more if needed)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 red onion
• 1 cup frozen peas or snap peas
• 1 good quality chorizo sausage
• About 300g de-shelled prawns
• 1 lemon
• 1 heaped teaspoon of paprika
• 1 flat teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 red chilli
• salt and pepper and garlic
• handful parsley
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 teaspoons honey

Method:

1. This is my special little trick! Slice up your chorizo, no oil needed but cook in a large pan on a medium heat and add the wine and honey. You could eat some of this chorizo just by itself with crusty bread as a starter!

2. Put the chorizo aside but leave the oil in the pan. Fry up the red onion in the same pan, until soft. Add the red pepper, spices, sliced chilli (leave the seeds in for extra heat) and garlic. Lastly add the frozen peas. Cook for a few minutes and then remove from the heat. Add your chorizo to this pan and give it a stir.

3. Start cooking your rice in a pot, adding some of the juices from your cooked veggies and chorizo.

4. Now for the prawns! I bought frozen ones which I simply de-shelled and cooked in a separate pan on a medium heat with a knob of butter. When they turn a pink colour, you know they’re ready.

5. In your big frying pan that your veggies and chorizo are in, add the rice and prawns. Give it a bit of a mix, season to taste, add in your torn parsley and squeeze the juice from half the lemon. Cut the other half into slices and mix in with your paella.

6. ” Muy buena”!!

The next episode is READY TO GO and so it’s time to celebrate!!!

For another delicious recipe and creative styling tips, watch the video below:

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It’s Christmas! And I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate than to make some beautiful food, pop open a bottle of bubbly and share it all with friends. For me – this is the greatest gift.

I’m off to my friend Jacqui for lunch. She has got some awesome Christmas table decorating tips up her sleeve. She’s teamed up with the lovely florist Lee Rogers and I’m excited to see what they have created! There’s only one place to go for inspiration when it comes to styling and decor and that’s Jacqui’s fantastic blog: Stylelingual. I’m a big fan!

I’ll be bringing along this super easy and tasty Christmas appetiser:

chorizo and pistachio preserve with torn baguette and Camembert cheese…

Ingredients:

• 2 apples
• 1 pear
• ½ cup brown sugar
• teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of ground cloves
• pinch of ground cardamom
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 chorizo sausage
• ¼ cup red wine
• 1 teaspoon honey
• handful chopped pistachio and pine-nuts

method:

• Roughly chop the apples and pear into small pieces
• Add the spices, sugar and enough water to cover the fruit
• Add a dash of red wine for good luck
• Simmer gently on the stove until the fruit has softened
• Chop the chorizo into small pieces and fry on a low heat, without any oil
• Add the red wine, honey and nuts and cook for a few minutes
• Add chorizo mix to the fruit and cook together for about an hour, or until it thickens to become like a jam.
• Once cooled, spoon the mixture into a number of small jars and stick in the fridge
• Grab a baguette, some soft cheese and your preserve and let the party begin!

It’s nearly Christmas, where has the time gone? I’m going away on holiday for a month and what I’m most worried about is who is going to water my little veggie garden when I go!

I harvested the last of my broccoli and when I saw it had sprouted flowers – I had an idea – a bunch of broccoli would make a beautiful flowery gift for a friend for her birthday, and the rest left over? A healthy crunchy to share with my housemates!

ingredients:

• one bunch (thin) long stem broccoli
• 200g baby spinach and rocket mix
• seeds of half a pomegranate
• handful roasted almonds slivers
• half a bunch of flat parsley and mint
• punnet green olives
• lemon

method:

• blanch broccoli in salted water.
• toss all ingredients together (cut the olives in half) and lastly scatter the pomegranate seeds and toasted almonds.
• drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and the zest and juice of half a lemon.

We’ve been travelling around the world by cooking up a feast with flavours from far and distant places! Steve Mattox and I are at the last stage of our journey… And I couldn’t think of a better way to end off a brilliant afternoon, then with some dessert!

Cheers Steve, here’s to more adventures!

Explore the world with your taste buds, invite some friends over, crack open a bottle of Shiraz and serve these tapas dishes – a perfect spring time meal.

Dukkah:
North Africa
(makes about 2 large jars)

• 1 cup roasted nuts (macadamia/almonds/hazelnuts)
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds, toasted
• 2-3 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2-3 tablespoons cumin seeds or 2 tablespoons ground cumin
•  1 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon good quality salt

1. Dry roast nuts and seeds.

2. Crush nuts and seeds in mortar and pestle.

3. Add spices and salt and pepper.

4. Put in a jar and shake!

5. Serve with freshly baked corn bread and olive oil.

Corn bread:
America
(makes about 1o flat breads)

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup oil
• 1 tsp salt

1. Sift dry ingredients.

2. Add wet ingredients and mix well.

3. Divide into balls half the size of your palm and flatten with your hand.

4. Place in a  hot griddle pan and fry until both sides are golden brown and crispy.

Hummus:
Greek/European

• tin chickpeas
•  ¼ cup oil
•  juice of ½ lemon
•  handful of coriander and/or parsley
•  2 cloves garlic
•  chilli to taste
•  salt and pepper

1. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor .

2. Add salt, pepper and chilli to taste.

Burger patties:
Australia/Asia
(makes about 8 patties)

• 500 g beef or pork mince
• 2 spring onions finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp sugar (optional)
• dried, ground chilli to taste
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl. Mix to combine.

2. Dust a surface with flour. Using hands, shape mixture into round patties that are 3cm in thickness. Refrigerate for 5 min.

3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook patties for 5 min each side, until golden and cooked through.

Apple Chutney:
(My Portuguese grandmothers recipe)

This recipe wasn’t featured on the YouTube episode, but I had to add it to my blog because it goes beautifully with the pork patties! (Im thinking brioche bun, coleslaw salad, chutney and meat patty. Delicious.)

• 3/4 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, diced – 500g)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups raisins (sultanas)
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup apple cider
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tsp pinch of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ½ tsp ground pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large, heavy saucepan. Bring the mixture to boil over a medium heat, then simmer uncovered, stirring frequently, for 30-40 min, or until thick and pulpy.

2. Remove from the heat, leave to cool and transfer to sterilized, clean, dry jars and seal.

Ceire’s Kitchen is BACK and we’re travelling around the world by cooking up a feast with flavours from far and distant places! With the help of one of my best mates and inspirational chef’s, Steve Mattox, we bring you good food, great stories and a laugh or two. Recipes soon to follow…