Recipes Cooking

Well, maybe not a thousand, but I did get quite a few requests for the sauce that went with the homemade pasta my Uncle Bill made during my trip to New York. We did two videos together, one was the “Homemades,” and one was an amazing chicken recipe called Chicken D’Arduini. In that post I said I would try to demo the olive oil sauce that went over the homemade fettuccine. Well, I haven’t filmed that yet, and have lots of great excuses why, some of which are even true.

So, in the meantime, since it’s such a simple sauce, I’m just going to talk you through it. You can see most of what’s happening in the photo of the pan. I can’t give exact amounts because it’s just not that kind of sauce.

While the pasta is cooking (I think we cooked about 2 pounds), put a heavy sauté pan on low heat. Add lots of olive oil, maybe a good cup. Add 5 or 6 anchovy fillets, and 4 cloves of minced garlic. Sauté on low until the anchovies melt and the garlic begins to sizzle. Add some chopped fresh basil and some hot pepper flakes and cook for another minute. Do NOT brown the garlic. Turn off the heat. In a large pasta bowl, cut up a stick of butter into small pieces. Grate about a cup of Parmesan cheese (the real stuff!). When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the pasta bowl, and toss with the butter for a few moments. Pour over the olive oil mixture, and add the grated Parmesan (save a little for the table), and toss until everything is coated. This is best served as a side dish due to its obvious richness, and was great with the Chicken D’Arduini, as it would with any similar recipe.

This is not the type of pasta to eat if you are thinking about grams of fat, or calories, or those new “skinny jeans.” In fact, this is a dish best eaten when your brain is completely void of all thought. So, clear your mind as you slurp the buttery, salty, spicy, garlicky, cheesy goodness. Enjoy!

Mmm, chocolate!  Lovely Cadbury Chocolate, there really is nothing quite like it.  Im a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to my Cadbury flavours, I tend to go for Fruit and Nut or plain Dairy Milk.  I would never have picked up these two flavours, but I surely wasnt going to refuse them when they were offered for review!


The Cadbury Dairy Milk with Daim was the bar I preferred, I enjoyed the contrast of the smooth melting Dairy Milk and the crisp, crunchy pieces of Daim bar.  Ive never really understood the appeal of the Oreo, I can see that they are the cookies of childhood for our US cousins, but we have prefectly good sandwich cookies in the UK. Anyway, I found the Dairy Milk with Oreo a bit too sweet for me and the filling had no contrast, being soft.  I scoffed it down anyway, but I wouldnt choose it. Everyone has their own favourites and Cadbury have plenty of new flavour combinations to choose from, something for everyone.  Personally the Dairy Milk Crunchie is calling to me....

The New Covent Garden Soup Co. are well known for their delicious chilled soups and they have introduced some new Skinny Soups,  I was sent Skinny Souper Green with Italian Basil Pesto


New Covent Garden Soup Co. Pulled Pork and Bean Soup is Soup of the Month for November and a substantial spicy meat and bean combination.  I served it with Quesadillas for a tasty and filling lunch.

Its always a particular pleasure for me to review Scottish products like this Scottish Rapeseed Oil from Borderfields.  Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil  is a home grown substitute for olive oil with a healthy balance of omega 3, 6 and 9.  It also has half the saturated fat of olive oil and no additives.

Borderfields Cold Pressed Scottish Rapeseed Oil is ideal for all kinds of cooking, baking, stir frying and drizzling.  I used it to roast some pumpkin chunks for a Kale, Pumpkin and Smoked Cheese Tart the oil has a lovely creamy flavour but it doesnt overpower the flavours of the food you cook in it.  I also roasted some the pumpkin seeds with spices to make a tasty snack.


Borderfields Cold Press Rapeseed Oil is available across the UK at Asda, Sainsburys, Aldi and Morrisons and at Tesco in the North and Scotland.
RRP of £3.99 for 500ml bottles:

I picked up this pack of Extremely Chocolately Honeycomb Crispies at Marks and Spencer, I didnt realise that they were designed to be low calorie for the Count on Us menu planner, when I chose them, but I have to say I was quite impressed.  Each square is individually wrapped (ideal for lunchboxes) and they are 120 calories per crispie.  They are nice an crunchy and you can really taste the honeycomb.

I was supplied with the following products for review:  Cadbury Dairy Milk with Daim, Cadbury Dairy Milk with Oreo; Covent Garden Soup Co. Pulled Pork and Bean and Skinny Souper Green with Italian Basil Pesto; Borderfields Scottish Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil.  

I purchased the Extremely Chocolatey Honeycomb Crispies and am sharing my review because I enjoyed them and thought you might too.

I was not paid for any of these reviews and all opinions are my own.