Now for the creative bit!

Make sure your baking tray is lightly oiled.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Using a large frying pan stir fry the chorizo, onions and peppers on a medium heat for 5 minutes, add the stock and then add the potatoes – set aside. Your stock needs to be melted gently in the same pan – it forms a jelly when it has set.

Scatter the chicken onto the tray and then the chorizo, onions, peppers and potatoes over the top. Cover evenly with the stock. Nestle the bunches of tomatoes on the top and scatter the black olives. Season with salt and black pepper and sprinkle with Panko and Parmesan.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Serve straight to the table – make sure you have a heat proof surface and non slip proof mats to stop the tray moving around.

Serve with any good fresh bread of your choice – Italian would make the most sense with the bowls of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil mixed together for extra dipping.

You'll notice that I've not mentioned additional garlic or herbs in the recipe – they are already there – in the slow cooked chicken and therefore in the strained stock but if you'd like to add more of either, go for it – I'd use garlic paste and either oregano or garlic Italian seasoning.

I love pulling ingredients out of the fridge and store cupboard - ready to assemble and go – in addition to which minimal fuss, maximum flavour and one tray to actually wash up – gets my vote every time!

The good news is you've got leftover chicken and in the event that you've leftover Tickle too – how about a Frittata? Another supper and may be lunch too!

Back to normal - A Tickle Tray

A “Tickle Tray” so called because quite simply it tickles the taste buds!

This recipe is ideal – it doesn't require a massive amount of prep – just bits and pieces you can do a day or two in advance when you have time, that can be fridged ready to pull out when you are ready.

It's inspired cooking all in one tray, a dive-in dish.

A Tickle Tray

You'll need a large baking tray which will be greased with either rapeseed or olive oil – measuring 43x31 cms.

Serves 4-6 depending on size of appetites

The chicken for the tray

1 slow cooked chicken – 1.5kg

1 chicken stock pot

2 tsps of garlic paste or 1 garlic stock pot

generous sprinkle of oregano or garlic

Italian seasoning

Place your chicken in the slow cooker and mix the stock pot with the garlic paste and spread over the chicken. Sprinkle with the herbs. Switch your slow cooker to the low setting and leave it for 8 hours.

When the chicken has cooled remove from the slow cooker. Strip the chicken into large ish pieces, bag and fridge. Strain the stock, jug and fridge. I would suggest that you cook the chicken the day before you need it so that you can strip and strain. If you are slow cooking ahead then freeze the chicken and the stock. Remove from the freezer the day before you want to use and defrost in the fridge.

Use the two chicken breasts – pulled into pieces

ready to be scattered

the strained chicken stock

1kg cooked Charlotte potatoes, peeled and cut

into large dice – prep ahead then bag and fridge

250g diced chorizo – I buy it ready diced

2 medium red onions, sliced – prep, bag and fridge

mixed sweet peppers, de-seeded and sliced -

prep, bag and fridge – you can buy a punnet of

sweet mini peppers (190g) - orange, yellow and red

6 cherry tomatoes – or small bunches x however

many servings required

50g black olives, pitted and sliced – optional

easy to obtain in jars

100g each of Panko breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese to

garnish

salt and black pepper

Bread of your choice to serve, with bowls of

balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil for extra dipping

When you're ready – now for the creative bit!

Then there's the buns!

This recipe uses that old favourite the puff pastry sheet – perfect for freezing for that rainy day or a good idea!

With this in mind, here are :

Mini Belgian Buns

1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, thawed in fridge (375g)

15g butter, melted

50g dark chocolate drops (or finely chopped)

25g ground almonds

50g sultanas

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp milk

Fondant Glaze

75g icing sugar

1-2 tsps boiling water

50g flaked almonds and 6 glacé cherries cut in half

to decorate

Preheat your oven 180c fan/200c/Gas 6. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper or similar. Unroll the pastry sheet and lay with the short sides either side - you are going to roll to form a log.

Brush the surface of the pastry and melted butter then scatter the chocolate and ground almonds leaving a border at the top end of the pastry to enable you to “glue” the log when rolled. Then scatter the sultanas over the chocolate and almonds. Carefully roll up from one of the shortest sides as tightly as you can forming a log.

Using a sharp knife, cut the log into 12 even slices. Place on the baking tray and brush with the remaining butter, then the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes until puffed and golden.

Here's the photo story so far folks!

For the fondant glaze - pour the boiling water slowly over the icing sugar in a small bowl while stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon. Pour in only enough water to make a creamy mixture that has the consistency of pancake batter. Cool. You need to make sure the mixture isn't too stiff, you need to be able to drizzle the glaze over your pastries.

Drizzle over the buns then sprinkle with flaked almonds and the final flourish – half a cherry on the top!

Happy Easter

Easter tea-time treats

This is a bit of fun!

It doesn't really matter that Easter is almost over – the kids are still on holiday so here are a couple of ideas for tea-time treats.

Chocolate Chip Scones

500g plain flour (1lb 2oz)

1 tsp salt

2 tsps bicarb

4½ tsps cream of tartar

25g cocoa

125g (5oz) unsalted butter

100g of plain chocolate drops – minimum

50% cocoa solids

300ml milk

1 large egg, beaten

5cms/2” fluted cutter

cocoa in a small ramekin to dip the cutter

to prevent sticking plus extra to dust your

working surface

2 baking sheets, lined with baking parchment

Pre-heat oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7

Sift the flour, salt, bicarb, cream of tartar and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until you've got breadcrumbs, add the chocolate chips then add the milk – all of it – mix with a round bladed knife, roughly and then tip onto a working surface, dusted with cocoa and knead lightly so that you have a dough. Divide the dough in half, leaving half in the bowl. You can use a rolling pin or your hands to round and flatten until 4cms/1½” deep. Remember to dip your cutter into the ramekin of cocoa before cutting, repeat with the remaining dough.

If you use the size of cutter in the recipe you'll get 24 scones.

Place the scones on the baking parchment, then brush with beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes until risen and chocolatey brown.

A tip - there's no doubt that what matters are good quality ingredients, plain chocolate and organic cocoa in particular. I always use Green and Black's Organic Cocoa, it never fails. If you're not a fan of plain chocolate you could use 50/50 plain and milk.

It's important that these scones are served warm. They will freeze which might be a good idea of you want “chocolate control” – defrost – which will take a couple of hours at room temperature and then warm in a pre-heated oven (150fan/170c/Gas 3) for 5 minutes, split and serve.

Have a look :

a Chocolate Chip Scone

warmed and split with a side of jam and clotted cream

a loaded treat!

A final tip – don't be tempted to add the cocoa to your ingredients without sifting.

Then there's the buns ...

Easter rocks!

I realise that this is not a traditional Easter Egg but hey does it really matter so long as it's chocolate?! What I love about this treat is it's easy and makes heaps so whilst it sounds like it could be expensive if you've lots of treats to give then you'll find it's great value too.

Rocky Road

250g dark chocolate

150g milk chocolate

175g soft butter, unsalted

4 x 15ml tbsp golden syrup

200g hobnobs

*150g shelled Brazil nuts

*150g red glace cherries

*125g mini marshmallows

Put the biscuits into a freezer bag and roll with a rolling pin until you get a mixture of rubble.

Chop the Brazil nuts into different sizes.

Chop both sorts of chocolate into small pieces, or use chocolate buttons made for melting and then put them into a heavy-based saucepan to melt with the butter and syrup over a gentle heat.

Take the pan off the heat and add the biscuit and nuts, cherries and mini marshmallows. Turn carefully so that all the ingredients are coated with the syrupy chocolate.

Tip into a foil try (I use a tray bake size), smoothing the top as best you can, although it is meant to be uneven.

Refrigerate until firm enough to cut, which will take about 1½-2 hours. Take the set block out of the tray. With the long side in front of you cut 6 slices down and 4 across so that you have 24 squares.

This is the basic Rocky Road recipe. The three ingredients marked “*” can be swapped to suit your own personal taste. You can choose any of the ingredients given on your “Design your own Rocky Road” sheet attached.

Make ahead tip:

Make the Rocky Road and refrigerate to set, cut into bars or bite size pieces and then store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week.

Freeze for up to 1 month.

Design your own Rocky Road

Traditionally Rocky Road is made using Brazil nuts,

glacé cherries and marshmallow.

Rules are meant to be broken - take a look at the

list below and if you'd like to design your own

Rocky Road swap any or all of the three

ingredients in the original recipe for the

same weight

(or may be four if you want to stay true

to Rocky Road and include the mini marshmallows)

Cashew

Peanut

Pistachio

Pecan

Hazelnut

Glacé cherry

Dried sour cherries

Cranberry

Apricot

Banana chips

Pineapple

Sultanas

Nougat

Turkish Delight

Fudge

Toblerone

Praline

Salted Caramel

Mini Marshmallow

Popping Candy

My latest suggestions are :

Pecans with dark cherries and vanilla fudge

Pistachios, apricots and Turkish Delight

Spoilt for choice!

Outside the box … the Easter Egg box that is!

For those of us who want something different for Easter here are a couple of alternative options and I make no apology for repeating these recipes – sometimes it's good to reprise and who doesn't love chocolate and fudge?!

Chocolate Fudge Squares

Takes 1½ hours/ make 50 pieces

400g dark or milk chocolate, broken into small

even sized pieces

25g butter

397 can condensed milk

100g icing sugar

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Line a 20cm square shallow tin with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie. In a non-stick saucepan melt the butter and gently warm the condensed milk, then add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar until blended and smooth.

Put the mixture into the prepared tin, spread evenly into the corners, smooth over the top and place in the fridge to set for at least 1 hour. Remove and cut into small squares and dust with cocoa.

Now for a photo or two and a few hints and tips …

You'll see that the fudge has a marbled top, not spread evenly as the recipe states – it's personal choice, I prefer irregular shapes!

Here's my tip – the recipe says “line a 20cm square shallow tin ...”. dip a teaspoon into the melted chocolate and place a tiny blob in each corner of the tin and then glue the parchment so that it stays put.

Here's another … make sure you sift the icing sugar otherwise you'll finish up with tiny white spots in the fudge.

Here's another – I turned the fudge into a chocolate orange version by adding 2 tsps of Valencian Orange Extract to the condensed milk and melted chocolate.

Here's another … to remove the slab of fudge use an ordinary fish slice. Gently ease the slice along each edge of the tin and then tip it upside down. If the slab of fudge won't comply do not lose your temper just repeat with the slice and it will surrender!

Cut your fudge into squares – the size of the square is up to you. The recipe states you'll get 50. They'll be large. I cut the slab in half and then each half gave me 36 pieces approximately 2x2cms – a total of 74 pieces. My tin has curved corners so I straighten each edge so that all the squares are exactly that, no “curved squares” if you get my drift!

Place the squares of fudge onto kitchen roll to dust with cocoa and leave space between each square for even coverage. Use a tea strainer or a small sieve, tapping the edge gently to dust.

Boxed up, ready to hand round to the

members of your bubble or you can box in small

amounts and freeze

Enjoy on its own or with vanilla ice cream and crushed Amaretti biscuits!

A perfect Easter treat!

A post script for spuds ...

You've heard of twice cooked chips? Here are twice cooked roast potatoes.

The easiest way to show you, is as a guide :

I peeled 3 medium sized Maris Piper

potatoes, weighing 250-270g each and cut into

a total of 16 roasties (4 to 6 depending on size of

potato) and roasted for 20 minutes in a

pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6, then turned

and repeated. It doesn't matter that there's a variation

in colour

I'd already used half of the roasties to serve with

a supper earlier in the week and set aside, wrapped

in foil and fridged the remaining half to “twice cook”

to serve with anything you fancy – fish & chips anyone?

The set aside half of the part roasted potatoes – 8

cut vertically gave me 22 “mini”

roasties ready to “twice cook”

Roast the potatoes for 20 minutes in a pre-heated

oven as above

Twice cooked roasties, ready to serve!

It's definitely worth planning for “deliberate leftovers” - why make work for yourself!

Assembly …

...and the leftovers.

Okey dokey, slice the sub, spread the sauce and add the meatballs on one side.

On the other side add mayo or mango chutney (to suit your choice of meatballs or koftas), then layer salad ingredients of your choice, then finish with mozzarella or paneer and top with optional bacon and eggs.

There's a meal!

As for the leftover meatballs and tomato sauce and the koftas and curry sauce, the good news is you can freeze them for another day.

For the Italian meatballs and tomato sauce, defrost in the fridge. When defrosted cook pasta of your choice – as a guide allow 90g of penne pasta for 180g of cooked per serving.

Whilst your pasta is cooking heat the meatballs and tomato sauce together gently. Drain the pasta and add it to your meatballs and sauce. Serve!

For the koftas and curry sauce defrost in the fridge. Heat the koftas and curry sauce together gently for 10/15 minutes and 2 minutes before the end of heating time microwave steamed pilau rice – as a guide a 280g pack from Aldi serves 2. Serve!

The joys of batch cooking – two ideas for a “sub” weekend treat and leftovers for a quick and easy, but home cooked mid-week meal.

Result!

A post script for spuds ...

The extras!

Of course you will need submarine rolls – you can buy them from most supermarkets – I recommend Marks & Spencer's – they seem to keep their freshness.

I should say that “a recipe” is not appropriate because it's a matter of how many rolls you're assembling and the ingredients are entirely personal – it's a “fly by the seat of your pants” thing!

Now for the extras – who likes what? Here are my suggestions and it is not an exhaustive list!

Avocado, sliced or mashed to suit, with lemon

juice

Crispy bacon – and bits are better!

Hard boiled eggs, sliced

Beef tomatoes, sliced thinly

Beetroot relish or slices if you prefer

Any salad item you love – spring onions, shredded

iceberg lettuce

capers, cornichons

A slaw of your choice – an Asian

recipe follows

For the Italian meatball version

Good quality mayo

Mozzarella cheese – either grated or a torn

ball of buffalo mozzarella

For the Indian Kofta version

Mango chutney

Small cubes of paneer submerged in the

rendang curry sauce

Asian Coleslaw

110g white cabbage, finely sliced – approximately

one third of a medium size cabbage

1 carrot – peeled and sliced with a

julienne peeler

1 spring onion – 15g finely sliced

if you want to create a basic slaw stash then

double the amounts given above

3-4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp caster sugar

Half tbsp rice wine

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp peanut butter

Half tsp chilli powder

4 tbsp fresh coriander

Combine all the above ingredients except the fresh coriander.

Marinade for at least an hour – 2-3 is better still!

Just before serving strain off the excess liquid, stir in the coriander and serve.

Now for assembly and leftovers!

The sauce that goes with!

Simple and delicious ...

Tomato Sauce

500g sieved tomatoes or the equivalent in cans of chopped tomatoes

1 medium/large onion, chopped finely

garlic clove or tsp of minced garlic

1tbsp olive oil

knob of butter

vegetable stock pot and 250ml of boiling water

oregano or garlic Italian seasoning

black pepper

1 tsp caster sugar

Melt the olive oil and butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry gently until soft then add the garlic. Add the oregano or garlic Italian seasoning and black pepper. Then add your stock pot and boiling water so that it melts, add the tomatoes and sprinkle on the tsp of sugar. The sugar is meant to balance out the acidity that one sometimes gets with tomatoes. Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes.

N.B. If you want to add extra depth you can add a tbsp of tomato paste. I would suggest that you taste your sauce before you simmer for 20 minutes. If you add paste then the simmering process will cook it out and its important that you do this - it tastes horrid if you don't. A lot depends on personal taste and how good your tomatoes are.

Cool and fridge until you're ready to use.

Alternatively you could make an version using the Indian style koftas recipe and the rendang sauce which I featured in January – so you have choices.

There's an idea ...