Looking for something simple but delicious whether its something with a glass of wine or a glass of larger with friends or just a yummy supper this is just up your street.

I love hot griddled lamb so try my Hot griddled Lamb pittas with salsa and humous. Your going to need: 4 pitta breads, 4 lambs steaks from your butcher, homemade houmous or a pot of houmous, 200g greek yogurt, 50g wild rocket, and to make your salsa - 2 tomatoes (greenhouse fresh ar the best), 1 red onion, 1/2 cucumber and 1 red chilli.

Preheat a griddle until its really hot. In the meantime chop all the ingredients for the salsa (deseed the chilli if you don’t like things too hot), and mix together. Split your pittas (you can use 8 baby size pittas if you prefer and there are also different varieties of pittas available too now). Toast your pittas on both sides on your griddle and put on one side. Season your lamb steaks and cook them on your griddle for 3 to 4 minutes each side, depending on their thickness. Slice the lamb steaks and add some lamb to each pitta follows by some salsa, houmous, greek yogurt and rocket. Serve any remaining salsa and  houmous on the side with bread sticks, batons of celery, cucumber and carrot. These Pittas are best eatten straight the way. Your family, friends and guests will love them.

Tip- To get the criss cross griddling pattern on your meat, when griddling just remember to tuen your meat around 180 degress on the same side before turning over which will give you this pattern. Griddling depends on your cooker, some cookers have griddle plates others don’t so in that case you may wish to buy a griddle. Griddles come in a variety of shapes and sizes so make sure you choose the one which suits your cooking needs best for example how many chicken breasts can it cook at once there is no point buying one which cooks only 2 when you have 4 people in the family. George foreman has a excellent range too, see my previous blog lean, mean and oh so good.

When the men need a quick snack like this check out my previous blog man size burger to satisfy plus many more for ideas. What do you serve in a hurry?

I love fish as do my family and I know that this is a recipe which always satisfies and leaves me with clean plates no matter when I cook it.  It simple homecooked recipe made with quality ingredients to fill each mouthful with great flavours, so give it a go.

For my family Cod and Parsley Pies you are going to need:

3 medium onions, 40g butter, 1 1/2 tblsp plain flour (or gluten free flour to suit you), 284ml double cream, 1kg cod fillet (you can ask the fish monger to fillet and bone your fish for you or even to recommend a alternative to cod too for you to try, so do ask them as they are very knowledgable), 25g fresh flat leaf parsley and 1 pack of frozen ready to roll puff pastry and egg for glazing. 

( I don’t know of many chefs these days who do not use frozen pastries, so if you haven’t time to make it don’t be afraid to use frozen pastry, but do check the labels if you have allergies. Also why not make pastry and freeze it I always keep some handy incase unexpected guests turn up, it invaluable to turn out a quick main or even dessert. So do try to make some items in advance and store in the freezer, to make life easier for you!)

You will also need 4 deep overproof dishes or pots with a 480ml capacity for this recipe. These Emile Henry set of dishes are not only great colours to serve your great recipes in but their functional to as Ceramic is by far the best material for successful cooking and baking ! Only ceramic is able to diffuse the heat slowly and evenly, to create perfectly browned gratins, tasty lasagna and succulent cakes. However do not use these on the hob.

To cook my cod and parsley pies first preheat your oven to 200 f / gas 6 / fan oven 180 C. Peel your onions and chop them roughly and soften them in a frying pan with the butter over a gentle heat. When tender and pale gold add the flour and cook briefly before stiring in the cream. Cut the fish in the large finger thick pieces and add to the onions. Roughly chop your parsley and stir in along with seasoning of salt and ground black pepper to your taste.  Now roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and using your pie dishes or pots as templates cut out 4 large pie dish shapes just larger than the actual pie dish shape itself. Divide your fish pie filling between your pie dishes and press a pastry lid gently over the top. Cut 2 small holes in the top and brush with beaten egg before baking in the oven for 30 minutes until golden and risen.  I like to serve my fish pies in the dish with seasonal vegetables or just with a slice of homemade bread, delicious!!

Love fish take a look at my other blogs spring into homemade fishcakes, savour the flavour of homecooked fast food on friday nights and Meditarrean Cod just for some ideas there are alot more blogs with great fish recipes too just for you.

I love fish and can’t resist trying new varieties too. Having recently been given trout from my friend who fishes regularly there is no better dish than fresh fish. I recently tried a new fish called river cobbler which is a alternative to cod, why not ask your fish monker and try a sustainable alternative fish. Tell him what type of texture and fish you usually like and I bet he will come up with some superb alternatives for you to try.

This evening supper is one of my personal favourites. Its so simple to cook but bursting not only with nutritional must haves for all of us, but full to the seams with flavour.

Why not try my Pan Fried Cod with cabbage and remember you can use a alternative fish.

You are going to need: 4 x 150g cod fillets, 1 small savoy cabbage, 4 slices of local streaky bacon cut into small pieces, a punnet of local oyster mushrooms (i’m lucky enough to have a local mushroom farm but check out the seasonal mushrooms depending when your cooking this dish, same with the cabbage), 80g butter, 1 tsp thyme, 50 ml olive oil and cracked black pepper and sea salt to season to taste.

Firstly quater, core and finely slice your cabbage and cook in boiling water until tender around 15 minutes ( you could also steam, see one of my previous blogs why people are going organic regarding steaming foods), then drain and cool under a running tap. Heat a non-stick frying pan and when hot add your olive oil and cook the cod fillets for 3 minutes on each side then remove and set aside. Wipe your pan clean and add 50g butter, when brown put in the chopped bacon and cook for around 2 minutes. Then add the cabbage and thyme and saute for a further 1 to 2 minutes to reheat. Add salt & pepper to you taste and set aside in a serving dish. Wipe your pan again and add the remaining butter and quickly cook your mushrooms which have been cut into strips and season.  For serving spoon a quarter of your cabbage into the centre of a warm plate, placing a cod fillet on top and mushrooms on top of the fish and serve with Wine of your choice. Simple, full of flavour and delicious!!!

Check out some of my previous blogs for fish advice and recipes like, savour the flavour of home cooked food on friday nights or finest fish supper or eat traditionally on good friday for a great fish pie recipe.

Have you tried Cod alternatives?, which fishes have you been recommended and enjoyed?

My house always seems to be full of guests which I am not complaining about at all, infact I enjoy a full buzzing house and I wouldn’t want it anyother way. 

Everyone knows how important it is to eat 3 good meals a day. Enjoying seasonal nutritious foods that are a pleasure to eat, meals which keep you feeling full and satisfied and stop you nibbling on modern sugar packed snacks. However, in an ideal world we would all sit down to share our day in the evening over dinner, or plan out our days together over breakfast in the morning. This is something I have always insisted on, but this scenario is not always possible. Especially with children now with various hobbies and attending various clubs, which you need a whole dedicated diary for on their own now adays. Then you have adult members of the family being held up at work (as we work some of the longest hours in Europe now), stuck on public transport or even in the never ending traffic jams upon our roads today. Fewer and fewer families can get to do this.

So I make one rule in our house, to make at least one healthy meal that can be tucked into as and when all the family can sit together; and if this can’t be in the evening, as I must admit our evening meals seem to get later and later due to all of our commitments.  I like us all to catch up with each other, so we can support each other, sort out whose going where and whose taking them etc so we always make breakfast together. Just as our grandparents would of done, they ate 3 good meals, at regular times throughout the day and ate together.

So try to plan say a evening meals together and make sure to minimise those distractions insisting on no mobiles or TV, so you can catch up with each other and enjoy your food too.  I know you may find this hard to start with but it will be worth it in the end.

One supper which will always bring my son Ed and his mates out of the wood work is my Sesame chicken noodles.

For serving you sesame chicken noodles check out this swift spice chinese serving set. The  Swift Chinese Serving Set Includes: -Four ceramic bowls. -Four ceramic spoons. -Four bamboo placemats. -Four pairs chopsticks and rests, and can make serving and eatting a chinese meal alot more fun and its great for entertaining too.

To serve 4 people your going to need: 1 tblsp sesame oil, 1 tabls sesame seeds, 3 free range local chicken breasts, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, a knob of root ginger peeled and shredded, 2 cloves of garlic peeled and sliced, 200g oyster mushrooms halved and quartered, 200g dried edd noodles, 6 spring onions trimmed and sliced on the angle, 150g sugar snap peas, 100g peas (fresh or frozen), 1 tblsp cornflour, 1 tsp five-spice powder, 2 tblsp rice wine or dry sherry, 1 tsp caster sugar and 2 handfuls of spinach.

Slice your chicken breasts into long narrow strips, heat a wok and toast the sesame seeds in it for about 20 seconds then tip into a bowl. Heat the pil and when sizzling add the ginger, garlic and cook stirring for 1 minute then transfer to a plate. Add the mushrroms and stir fry to 2 minutes then scoop out and put these on the plate too. Add the chicken to the wok and cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until cooked through then tip in to a heatproof dish and keep warm in a preheated oven on a low setting. Bring a pan of water to boil on the hob & boil the noodles takes about 4 minutes or as shown on packet. Add the spring onions, sugar snap peas & peas to your wok with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir these over a medium heat for 3 minutes then return the ginger, garlic and mushrooms. Drain the noodles and toss with the sesame oil. Blend the cornflour with the five-spice, rice wine (or dry sherry), sugar and 3 tablespoons of water. Add this mixture to the wok and toss everything together over the heat for 1 minute. Toss the warmed chicken in the oven with the toasted sesame seeds and serve the noodles in bowls topped with strips of chicken and stir fried vegetables. You can drizzle with a little extra sesame oil before serving if you wish.

Take a look at my previous blog flexible spring cookery to cope with the great british weather for further recipes and my blog chinese new year - the year of the Ox. 

Whats your families favourite meals to eat together? have you got a favourite chinese recipe? Let me know its always great to hear from you all!