The Smash – nearly ready for the Grab!

You'll need half an avocado per person, halved and stoned - place the avocado in a medium bowl and mash roughly, add a squeeze of lime juice and a sprinkle of salt and mix. Cover with cling film ensuring that the piece is large enough to actually touch the mixed avocado and then wrap the bowl, it'll stop it from discolouring.

Next, flat bread of your choice – the size is also up to you – I used mini piadas – you could use mini tortilla wraps or larger versions of either if you wish! Wrap them in foil ready to warm in the oven.

Finally, my trusted Pomegranate Dressing which I've been using for years!

Pomegranate Dressing

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

juice of two limes

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Generous pinch of nigella seeds

1-2 tsps sumac

Mix all the ingredients together. I use a small jar with a tight fitting lid and add the ingredients straight into the jar. Shake it like you mean it – fridge until ready to assemble.

Here it is :

Four elements only – the cheese is prepped, the avocado is mashed, dressing is in the jar and the bread is ready, the final flourish and assembly coming up together with more photos!

Halloumi Smash and Grab – the photo story so far

Here's a step by step guide of the Halloumi Smash and Grab cheese element :

The cubed cheese – before the flour shake

After the flour shake – you can see the difference -

the cubes are coated and they are dull in colour

Shaken in the seasoning

You can tell by the colour, these little beauties are going to be delish – nearly ready for the Grab!

We're still with the WWS …

...but now into a more flexible, less structured, relaxed mood. This idea and the one that follows would be a great supper for a Friday or Saturday evening. The flexible bit is that equally you could serve this recipe as a starter, scaled down to suit the appetites of your guests and eaten with fingers or forks.

Remember the Halloumi Fries recipe? Check out A bit of fun and a fab snack for chapter and verse and Halloumi Seasonings and dips to go with 3rd March 2018 – a big fat hint!

You'll need a strong box with a well fitting lid – the one

I used measured 17cms x 11cms x5cms/6½” x 4½ x 2” and it looks like this :

Halloumi Smash and Grab

You will need

A 225g pack of Halloumi cheese, drained and patted dry with kitchen roll, once drained you'll have 204g of cheese. As a guide the pack measures 9cms x 6 cms/ 3¼” x 2¼”. Place the cheese vertically on your cutting board – slice it into five then cut each vertical slice into two, turn lengthways in front of you and cut into cubes – you should get 44 approximately and as a rough guide they measure 2x2cms/¾” - don't stress – try to achieve a similar size for an even cooking – if you want larger that's fine.

I used half – 22 cubes in a batch, it's easier to coat evenly so you may need two boxes of the above size or a larger version – pop the cubes into your box and add 5g of plain flour. Secure the lid! Shake like you're having a really bad day or someone has irritated you – a lot!

Open your box and add 1 tablespoon of seasoning of your choice, secure your lid and shake again to coat your cheese.

Fridge your box until you're ready to cook and serve.

Coming up … the photo story so far!

Bombay Aloo photo guide

the beginning

the middle

the end

in an individual pot, ready to roll!

It's a win win – you use up any potatoes and produce a dish that will go down a storm – an added bonus - if you cook it on purpose it doesn't break the bank – I love it when an economical plan comes together especially when it tastes so good!

Whilst I'm on the subject of working week supper ideas

How about perfect potatoes – leftovers or on purpose.

Bombay Aloo – aka Bombay Potatoes

500g of cooked potatoes – I use Charlottes – whatever you use it should be a waxy potato that holds its shape, so any new potato will be just the job.

1 medium onion, finely diced

1 tbsp rapeseed oil

250g passata

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp ginger paste or 1” fresh, grated.

2 cloves of roasted garlic or 2 cloves of fresh, crushed

1 tsp each of ground cumin, coriander, garam masala and curry powder. Use a curry powder that best suits your palate and how much heat you like – mild, medium or hot

1 tsp salt or to taste

Use a medium size saucepan (21cms/8”).

Your potatoes should be cut to approximately 6-12 cms/¼” to ½” pieces.

Fry the onions in the oil until soft – 3-4 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, spices and salt. Fry so that the spices are released. Add the potatoes and the tomato paste, fry gently so that the potatoes absorb the flavours and the paste cooks too – 3-4 minutes.

Add the passata and sugar and cook on a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Taste the Bombay Aloo, adjust salt and sugar to personal taste. Cool, box and fridge. The longer you leave this dish the better it will be. It freezes well.

Bombay Aloo is a dry Indian dish, usually served as a side. This recipe will give you 690g of scrumptious potatoes. If you are bored with leftovers then this is for you. Serve as much as you want, add whatever you want, be it leftover meat, veggies, a can of chick peas (drained and rinsed), poultry or mid week baked sausages, the world is your lobster!

Photo guide up next.

More ideas and photos too

Create a pizza with your tomato sauce as a base and load with meatballs and whatever else takes your fancy – don't forget to treat yourself to a generous sprinkle of grated Parmesan as well as the traditional mozzarella.

You could go the obvious route of spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatballs – traditional is good!

For the ultimate slob, why not a sub sandwich with the tomato sauce, meatballs then add veggies and cheese of your choice.

One thing is certain your sauce and meatballs give you flexible working week supper ideas and the cherry on top of the cake – all you have to do is pull the sauce and the meatballs from your treasure chest.

Here are the sauce photos :

Onions, garlic and spices in the pan with tomato paste

The sauce at the beginning of the cook

Check out the depth of colour at the end

What's not to love!

Little or Large?

Another thought held.

Whether you are wanting a meal for one or feeding your family the tomato sauce comes into its own and ticks all the boxes.

If you remember the It's Friday evening ...is it a burger blog it gives you the basic burger recipe which, in turn, doubles as meatballs too! You'll get approximately 25-30 meatballs from that recipe. I make them the size of a walnut – if you'd like measurements - 30x30 millimetres. You don't have to give yourself a hard time being exact – measure one then gauge the rest.

Freeze the meatballs in varying amounts according to size of appetites but do yourself a favour and bear in mind whether freezing a meal for one or for the family.

If you want speed and a veggie alternative to go with your veggie tomato sauce try Quorn Swedish Style Meals a 300g bag serves 4 – there are actually 18 in a bag – a strange number to serve 4.

So far so good.

More ideas and photos coming up.

The LSG tomato sauce

Some while back I asked you to “hold another thought” - I'm so sorry for the delay – you must be going blue by now!

You'll find this sauce invaluable – it lends itself to so many recipes – a perfect addition to your working week suppers list.

As with the curry sauce it is probably not convenient to make it when you're multitasking on a Sunday. It is not a complicated or challenging recipe but well worth the time it takes.

Here goes :

Tomato Sauce

500g passata

1 medium onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of roasted garlic or crushed fresh garlic

1 tbsp of rapeseed oil

knob of butter – 25g

1 tbsp of tomato paste

250g of vegetable stock

a generous sprinkle of oregano

black pepper to taste

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp of salt, to taste

Melt the oil and butter in a medium size saucepan (21cms/8” in diameter), add the onion and soften gently – 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic. Add the oregano and black pepper. Add the tomato paste and cook for 1-2 minutes. It's important that you cook the paste – if you don't it will be bitter and taste horrible! Add the passata, stock and then the sugar. The sugar is meant to balance out the acidity that one sometimes gets with tomatoes. Simmer the sauce for 30 minutes. The sauce will reduce and thicken. Taste the sauce before you add any salt – it's a matter of personal taste. The flavours in your sauce will develop and so will benefit from being made a couple of days ahead and fridged.

The sauce freezes well, bear in mind the size of portions – whatever suits you – smaller is more practical, you can always take out two – no waste.

You'll get 670g of sauce from the recipe.

Hold yet another thought!

Rubble – the bonus

Now for the trimmed ends and the bits of Rubble and crumb.

Take a look :

the large and the small bits

You'll also get :

the fine crumb

Here's the thing – it doesn't matter what size the Rubble is there's a use for it. Choose your favourite size of Rubble and sprinkle it over ice cream with seasonal fresh fruit.

Are you thinking of serving a cheesecake anytime soon – sprinkle the larger pieces of crumb over the top.

If you're planning an ice cream treat of an old fashioned cornet - decorate with the fine sprinkles.

Are you making biscuits for the holidays – add the crumb to your mixture or use to decorate the tops.

If you'd like additional inspiration, check out a series Easter Emergencies A Hodgepodge – Take 2 and Hodgepodge again in April 2017.

Create a secret stash for yourself and freeze – preferably in different sizes but it's not the end of the world if you throw all of it into the same freezer bag.

Enjoy the holiday!

Rubble – step by step photo guide

a bowlful of glistening fruit and nuts

an important addition

ready to fridge!

using the photo above, with the long side of

the tray towards you, cut it in half and then into

six vertical pieces, set the other half aside. Trim the

uneven side and set aside.

turn three pieces lengthways and cut in half, then

in half again until you have 24 pieces – repeat with

the remaining 3 lengths – 48 pieces. Repeat with the set

aside half giving you 96 pieces in total.

here it is

The Rubble bonus up next.

Rubble – the plus points and the bonus

White chocolate is popular with the kids – it's not for the chocolate purists but, in this instance if you want to encourage the kids to eat fruit and nuts, it works.

I describe this treat as a sort of tutti frutti – by that I mean the Italian ice cream but using chocolate instead - not the bagged confectionery. Another useless piece of information – tutti-frutti means “all fruits”. Tutti-frutti has morphed into all sorts of different variations, depending which country you're in.

Another plus is only 40% of the treat is chocolate, the remaining 60% is fruit and nuts.

I would definitely recommend toasting the chopped pecans with the sea salt flakes, white chocolate is sweet and the slight saltiness of the toasted pecans helps balance that sweetness.

Cut into cubes, you'll get 96 pieces from your batch!

Given the success of the Rocky Road I have discovered that personal is special. Pretty bags or boxes are inexpensive – check out the cheaper High Street shops – the Rubble cubes fit into the eggs for the hunt – just like this :

Step by step photo guide is up next.

Rubble - an Easter treat

I know we're in the middle of sauces to help you with your working week suppers (“wws”) but Easter is nearly upon us and so I thought I'd give you an idea or two, just for fun!

I can't say I've ever been one for giving home-made gifts but I reminded myself of the reaction to my Rocky Road fest at Christmas and how the sweet treat was received.

With that in mind, here's my Easter chocolate contribution – home-made and definitely chocolate!

The following treat I call Rubble because I always get fragments of varying sizes that remind me of gravel and small stones. It sounds strange but bear with me, you'll see what I mean in the photo guide.

Here's the recipe :

Rubble

500g white chocolate

35g Rice Krispies

160g sultanas

140g pecans, roasted and

chopped coarsely

160g dried apricots

130g dried cranberries

105g pistachios, roasted and

chopped coarsely

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl over simmering water ensuring the water does not touch the bowl. When the chocolate has melted fold in the remaining ingredients thoroughly so that the chocolate coats well and tip into a tray bake – size 32 x 9 cms approx. “Fridge” it for 2 hours.

If you want to add an extra level of flavour, before you begin, heat a small knob of unsalted butter (20g) in a frying pan, when it foams add the chopped pecans with a large pinch of sea salt flakes. Stir over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until toasted – you'll smell them when they are ready. Tip onto a baking sheet to cool.

Coming next … the plus points and the bonus.

LSG Chicken Curry – the photos

Here's the proof :

Delicious

and again!

Do I have your attention?

The verdict :

Silence is always good – demolished!

It was worth every second of the time it took.

LSG Chicken Curry – the nitty gritty

or hints and tips!

If, like me, you stock pile your slow cooked star anise chicken stock why not use some of your liquid gold to slow cook or poach chicken fillet. Don't forget my mantra – always slow cook or poach at least six when you only need two! If you have a stock of frozen stock then use the anise infused version to poach or slow cook the fillet. Chicken is a great protein and when cooked in a good stock, infused with flavour it gives you a delicious ingredient to use in so many different ways. Freeze, individually, any remainder - ready for another day.

I should remind you – there are two variations for slow cooking a whole chicken, sprinkling with oregano or, in this instance, omitting the oregano and popping two whole star anise into the cavity of the chicken. What you'll get is a delicately infused anise flavour in the stock which is perfect for the curry sauce and your chicken fillet too.

This is how to get the maximum from minimum effort and get the best from your chest. You've got the stock from the slow cooked chicken to use in the curry sauce and to poach the chicken fillet too, the curry sauce and, last but by no means least, you've used your treasure chest to store them all. Job done.

Ideas for other uses for a fast mid week supper and a lunch or two?

How about another wacky pizza idea? Defrost your curry sauce – don't add the coconut cream. Spread the curry sauce over your defrosted pizza dough, if you're a fan of calzone then load half with a shredded chicken breast, add finely sliced sweet peppers and whatever else hits the pizza spot. If you want a veggie version then use vegetable stock in your curry sauce instead of the chicken. Cook Quorn pieces in some of the curry sauce and then load and add toppings you love!

LSG tomato sauce on its way … but photos first!

More about the sauce

The curry sauce takes more time than I'd advocate during your MTM stuff – it'll take an hour and all I can say is you won't regret it. You need to bear in mind that you can't walk away, the sauce needs your stirring attention. I sat at my hob with paperwork long overdue – you could equally do food prep that's on your list – any job that doesn't take you away – use your timer! It's still multitasking just in a different way.

The sauce freezes well and I'd suggest you might want to do so in portions that you know will suit you best. Remember, you can always take out more than one portion, infinitely better than wasting part of a larger box.

Here's what I did with my fridged curry sauce. I tipped it into a medium saucepan and warmed it through. I added 160ml of coconut cream and stirred until thoroughly absorbed. You'll have a curry sauce that is thick and delicious.

The list of uses for this sauce is endless, from leftover meat and poultry to veggies too. You can make the sauce vegetarian by using vegetable stock instead of chicken, if that's your bag.

A chicken curry and the photos are up next but before I go I have not forgotten that I mentioned two LSG sauces – a tomato sauce is another valuable asset, this time perfect for Mediterranean flavours and recipes.

Hold another thought!

Lip Smackingly Good (LSG) Sauces

Before we carry on with the remaining working week suppers I think the time is right for two more LSG sauces.

I do love a useful sauce, especially one that can be used in different ways. The following is a curry sauce – in particular meant to resemble what I'd call a “chip shop curry”. To explain, the chip shop curry is not as strong as traditional curries. For those who eat curries, to give you an idea of “heat” and “spice” I'd say it's not as hot and spicy as a rendang and not as mild as a korma, so middle for diddle, suitable for everyone.

Here's the recipe :

Curry Sauce

50g unsalted butter

2 large onions, finely sliced and chopped

1 tsp of ginger paste

4 roasted garlic cloves

3 tbsp mild curry powder

3 tbsp malt vinegar

½ tsp star anise powder

500ml of the slow cooked star anise chicken stock

2 tbsp slaked cornflour

2 tbsp lemon juice

160ml coconut cream

Using a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, garlic and ginger. Fry gently until soft – about 15 minutes, make sure there's no colour. Add the curry powder, star anise powder and vinegar, fry for another minute. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 25 minutes, stir occasionally, you don't want it to stick.

Add two tbsp of water to the cornflour, mix and pour into the sauce. Simmer for another 5 minutes, stir until you've got a silky, thickened sauce. Blitz with a hand blender until smooth, add the lemon juice.

At this point, decant into boxes. You will get approximately 630g of curry sauce and I divided between two. I froze one box and fridged the other.

I was using one for this evenings meal.

Hold that thought ...