Family Faves

My family favourites!

The recipes here basically are not what I would describe as traditional dishes from certain countries but dishes that over the years I have cooked more or less as some sort of comfort food, food that the whole family enjoys eating. Food that is knocked up out of left-overs or what’s in the cupboard or fridge.

Hopefully you will enjoy these as much as my family do?

 

baked cheesy nachos
Baked Cheesy Nachos

Baked cheesy nachos are so easy to make and great to place on the table when you are entertaining. My kids just love them on a film night and my youngest boy Oscar will even eat a plateful if given the chance and he doesn’t eat that much usually…

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beef, bean and tomato stew
Beef Bean and Tomato Stew

I had a 500gm piece of stewing beef. It looked a bit fatty. The day before I had made some pasata using the left overs of my tomato harvest….

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Butternut Squash Soup
Butternut Squash Soup

Up until I lived in Vancouver I had never eaten pumpkin or squash before other than courgettes of course, but then I was introduced to the wonderful variety of squash, especially in the fall…

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cauliflower broccoli cheese
Cauliflower Broccoli Cheese

If you like cauliflower cheese and you like broccoli too, then this recipe makes an unbelievably delicious way to combine the two! The great thing about this recipe too, is that you don’t have to use fresh cauliflower or broccoli, it works just as well with frozen …

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cauliflower cheese
Cauliflower Cheese

Most of us do have our family favourites and of course what we call comfort food that remind us of what Mum used to cook up. I have a few and I always do them hoping that my family will enjoy them too. Sadly my boys aren’t really into cauliflower and therefore don’t like cauliflower cheese…

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cheesy baked meatballs
Cheesy Baked Meatballs

In German this recipe is called a “Mediterrane Nudelpfanne” which is basically a Mediterranean Noodle Pan! The poor meatballs and cheese don’t even get a mention and the fact that it uses Cheddar kind of takes away the Mediterranean bit, so that’s why I’ve adapted a new name for this dish…

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Chicken and rice casserole
Chicken and Rice Casserole

This is a firm family favourite and one dish that I grew up with. I’m not sure where my Mother got the recipe, perhaps in Readers Digest, but where ever it came from I always asked for this when visiting…

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Chicken Fricassée

Now traditionally fricassée is a French method of cooking, where the meat is cut into pieces and sautéed but not browned and then cooked in a white sauce. according to Larousse Gastronomique (if you don’t have a copy then well worth the investent as this IS the BIBLE of cooking)…

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chicken lasagne
Chicken Lasagne

I really do try and cook proper classic traditional recipes whether French, Italian, Spanish or British. Some of these are really good comfort food too, but there are also those variations that we make up or someone gives us a recipe and they become a firm favourite with the family…

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Chili con carne
Chilli Con Carne

The wonderful thing about a chili con carne too is that you can make it hot as you like or make it mild for the kids and slowly spice it up as they get used to the taste…

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carrot and ginger soup
Creamy Carrot and Ginger Soup

Do you remember the days, when soup came in cans and we had a choice of Cream of Tomato, Cream of of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken! Then there was the packets of chicken noodle soup that you added to cold water and heated up on the stove…

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creamy potato soup
Creamy Potato Soup

We love our soups and stew in this house, especially my young boys. And a soup is especially a great way to hide those veggies that they usually hide under that bit of mashed potato that they couldn’t eat…

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Easy Chicken Gravy

Easy Chicken Gravy Okay for sure the easiest way of making g …

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Goulash

When I think goulash I have to think of Hungary. I have known some Hungarians in my life and they introduced me to Chicken Paprikash or Paprikás Csirke as they call it and Ćevapčići but they never cooked goulash which is Hungarian and probably the most known dish to come from Hungary…

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Köttbullar

If you’ve ever been to IKEA and had lunch in their cafeteria you will no doubt have come across Köttbullar (pronounced shutbullar), which are the very tasty Swedish meatballs in a lovely creamy sauce served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam…

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nadan mathan pumpkin curry
Pumpkin Curry

Pumpkin or squash have become such a popular autumn food that I decided it was time I found an Indian recipe with pumpkin as the main ingredient. So I found this one called Nadan Mathan or for us pumpkin curry

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Roasted brussel sprouts
Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Up until fairly recently brussel sprouts wre always boiled and served with a roast dinner. I have often cooked them in an Asian style also with beef and oyster sauce. Very delicious indeed! But a couple of years ago over drinks in the The Gore Hotel, London a friend asked…

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scrambled eggs on toast
Scrambled Egg On Toast

As a child this was one of my favourite tea time meals. My Mum would always grate some cheese on top and then a splash of ketchup on top of that! Lovely! My boys also love scrambled eggs, but they like the egg well cooked…

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Spaghetti bake
Spaghetti Bake

Growing up this was a firm family favourite and I love it to this day as a great comfort food. It is also a very economical meal to make. I always used to make this with sliced onions, but my family are very picky about onions so I usually…

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tomato mozzarella tart with basil
Tomato and Mozzarella Tart

This simple Tomato and Mozzarella tart with basil recipe is unbelievably good, takes very little preparation, (unless of course you make the pastry yourself) and is a crowd pleaser…

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zucchini potato gratin
Zucchini Potato Gratin

A good friend of ours Red, sends us every few months a copy of Southern Living magazine and for those of you that have heard of this publication will know that it is stacked with great articles and fantastic tasty recipes. There was an article in the summer edition where we found this recipe about a Austin, Texas…

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