Preparation time: 10 – 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 – 35 minutes
Skill level: easy
Faff level: 3/10
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 1 red pepper – cored and cut into 1cm strips
• 1 yellow pepper – cored and cut into 1cm strips
• 1 large onion – thinly sliced
• 3 ripe tomatoes – roughly chopped
• muscovado sugar – 2 tsp
• 1 chilli – finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 sprigs thyme – stripped and chopped
• parsley – chopped – 1 tbsp
• coriander – chopped – 1 tbsp (plus more to scatter at the end)
• cumin – ¼ tsp
• saffron strands – ¼ tsp
• smoked paprika – ¼ tsp
• 4 free-range eggs
• olive oil
• water – up to 125ml
• s & p

First find a large deep frying pan or saucepan.

Add a good slug of oil and sauté the onion for two minutes.

Next add the peppers, chilli, sugar, bay leaves, thyme, parsley and coriander, and cook over a high heat for a couple of minutes until the peppers start to soften and intensify in colour.

Add the tomatoes, saffron, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. Stir frequently and add enough water to keep everything loose and moist.

Taste, season, taste, season, etc.

This dish is going to be served in individual pans straight from the hob*, so you need find 2 small frying pans and divide this mixture between each.

Break 2 eggs into each pan (it helps to make indentations in the sauce with the back of a spoon), season, cover and cook over a very low heat for 5 – 10 minutes or until the egg whites have set but the yolk is still soft.

Sprinkle with more coriander and serve up with a few chunks of good bread.

* Obviously you don’t have to do this, you could stick to the one pan and serve up on plates.

Verdict: A sweet gently spiced dish which makes a great weekend brunch treat. The flavourings are only a guide, so experiment with different herbs and spices (riffing around a Middle Eastern theme).

Drink: A strong heavily sugared k4e.

Entertainment: Now that I’ve discovered Yumblog Junior finds my dancing hilarious, the entertainment possibilities are endless.

* WARNING: This link takes you through to The Mail Online. Now wash your hands!

Why not splash out and spend three and a half euros on a fancy tin of tuna?

Preparation time: 15 minutes plus time to let the potatoes cool
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2

Ingredients (quantities are fashionably vague)

• new potatoes – boiled, cooled and chopped into smallish pieces – enough for 2 people
• tin of good tuna steak – drained
• 3 hard boiled free-range eggs – roughly chopped
• 1 large ripe tomato – chopped into small pieces
• sun-dried tomatoes – chopped – several
• Jalapeño peppers – sliced – some
• lettuce leaves of your choice
• s & p
• olive oil
• white wine vinegar
• sesame seeds

Put the potatoes, tuna, egg, tomatoes and peppers into a large bowl and mix together with your hands. Season.

Make a generous amount of dressing by mixing together the olive oil and vinegar in a ratio of 4:1.

Pour over the salad, add some sesame seeds and mix together. Check the seasoning.

The salad will benefit from sitting for a short while so that all the flavours can meld together.

To serve, line the dishes with the lettuce leaves and spoon over the salad. Drizzle with a little more peppery olive oil.

Order another beer and enjoy.

Verdict: This was almost as tasty as the one I had on holiday despite it being a damp evening in Bethnal Green. Remember to be generous with the sun dried tomatoes, Jalapeño peppers and olive oil as these all combine to give this salad its zingy kick.

Drink: A bottle of Rosé from the disappointing wine section at the local Co-Op.

Entertainment: ‘New Tricks’ on iPlayer. A not very guilty pleasure here at Yumblog Towers. Who could resist singing along to the theme tune?

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30 – 45 minutes
Skill level: easy
Recipe: J’me
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• spaghetti – 200g
• 2 free-range eggs
• 4 anchovies – roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – crushed
• parsley – finely chopped – handful
• Parmesan – grated – 2 handfuls
• 2 dried chillies – crushed
• olive oil
• s & p

Cook your spaghetti as per usual.

Once cooked run under cold water until cool enough to handle.

Put the eggs, cheese, parsley, garlic, anchovies and chillies in a largish bowl and mix together.

Cut the spaghetti into 3 inch lengths and add to the bowl. Mix thoroughly.

Heat some oil in a large heavy frying pan.

Fork some of the mixture into the frying pan and pat down with a fish slice to form your fritters. Make them any size you like.

When the underside is cooked, browned and starting to crisp, flip over and cook the other side.

Place on a warmed plate in a moderate oven to keep warm and repeat until all your mixture is used up – we got six from these quantities.

Counter-serve with a healthy salad.

Verdict: This certainly is a tasty treat. Eat with a knife and fork, fingers, sitting down, standing up, indoors, outdoors, walking around, anyway you like.

Drink: A pair of St Peters Grapefruit ales at The Jerusalem.

Entertainment: It’s semi-final time in Celebrity Master Chef and among other things the final four were shipped off to Leeds castle to cook dinner for a bunch of plummy toffs. As always this is great stuff only slightly spoilt by the continued presence of the tedious Iwan Thomas and his endless laboured sporting analogies. Wendi to win.

Not bad handwriting for a chicken.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 – 25 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2
Recipe: Wa’ro Magazine

Ingredients

• Ricotta cheese – drained – 250g
• Grana Padano cheese – finely grated – 2 tbsp
• 1 egg
• cherry tomatoes – halved – 150g
• basil leaves – torn – 1 tbsp
• olive oil – 2 tbsp
• 2 slices wholemeal or sourdough bread

Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5.

Arrange the tomatoes, cut sides up, in a small roasting tin, season well and drizzle with olive oil.

Use a little of the oil to grease two 180ml ramekins or similar oven proof dishes. As you can see, we didn’t have anything of the right size so we used three smaller ramekins. It don’t matter none.

Beat the cheeses, egg and basil together with a little seasoning in a bowl and divide between the ramekins.

Bake the Ricotta mixture along with the tomatoes for 20 – 25 minutes, until the cheese is puffed up and beginning to brown.

Run a knife around the edge and turn out of the ramekins.

Toast the bread and drizzle with olive oil.

Top with slices of the baked Ricotta.

Season with a twist of black pepper.

Serve with a salad.

Verdict: A quick tasty soufflé which makes for an easy but special midweek dinner. A whole host of flavour variations could be made.

Drink: A light vinho verde, it’s only 10.5% so you can drink loads of it.

Entertainment: ‘Eastern Promises’ on DVD. A good, tattootastic film with an improbable happy ending. Blogger D enjoyed the naked Viggo Mortensen sauna fight scene.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 – 35 minutes
Skill level: Easy
Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients

• caster sugar – 75g
• plain flour – 45g
• milk – 400ml
• 1 vanilla pod
• 3 eggs – lightly whisked
• unsalted butter – 20g
• cherries – stones left in – 300g
• icing sugar – for dusting

Start by preheating the oven to 200C (gas mark 6)

Put the pan/cake tin you are going to use to make the clafoutis into the oven to heat up.

Pour the milk into a saucepan, split the vanilla pod and add to the milk, then warm through on a low heat. Put aside to cool.

Fold the sugar and flour into the whisked egg and then add the milk.

Scrape the vanilla pod seeds into this batter mixture and stir.

Remove the pan from the oven and grease with some butter. Pour in the batter mixture and scatter the cherries over.

Dot with a little butter and cook in the oven for 25-35 minutes until puffed up and golden.

Dust with icing sugar and eat immediately.

Verdict: Hmmm, this is a bit like a sweet omlette. Mmmm, it’s very tasty though. Leave any left uneaten in the fridge overnight and it goes soggy and sticky (not in anyway a criticism).

Drink: Beer then rosé then red then beer again.

Entertainment: Drinking pints outside the Palm Tree and being slightly unnerved by this hot, sticky but somehow still overcast and slightly dark summer we are having.

More Rowley Leigh recipes can be found here

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-25 minutes
Skill level: Medium
Serves: 8 supposedly, 4 in reality

Ingredients

• single cream – 300ml
• milk – 300ml
• parmesan cheese – finely grated – 100g
• 4 egg yolks
• cayenne pepper
• 12 anchovy fillets
• s & p
• unsalted butter – 50g
• 8 very thin slices of pain de campagne or crisp toast

Pre-heat the oven to 150°C (gas mark 2).

Mix together the cream, milk and all-but-one-tablespoon of the parmesan, in a heat-resistant bowl and heat slowly over a pan of boiling water until the cheese melts.

Put aside and leave to cool completely.

When cool, whisk in the egg yolks along with some salt, white pepper and cayenne pepper.

Lightly butter 8 ramekins, pour in the mixture and cover with circles of buttered baking paper. Place ramekins in a baking tray of boiling water and put in the oven for 15 minutes or until the mixture has just set. (I had to give it almost 25 minutes because I made 4 larger custards)

Mix the butter and anchovies together into a smooth paste and spread onto 4 of the bread slices. Place remaining slices on top to form ‘sandwiches’. Stick under a grill and  toast lightly on both sides. Cut into soldiers.

When the custards are cooked, remove the baking paper, sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and grill until browned.

Eat.

Verdict: An eggy, cheesey, custardy marvel. Anchovies too. Brilliant.

Drink: Probably at this stage we were still on the first bottle of rosé.

Entertainment: Just plain good company.

Then the band came on. They were good. The drummer looks like Paul Smith and the singer looks to be in need of edible sustenance such is his gauntness and general unhealth. It turns out that if you take ludicrous amounts of heroin and crack there can be some negative side effects.

Anyway, we had about five pints on an empty stomach and so the next day we didn’t feel very energetic so I made some very rich cheese soufflés.

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 36 minutes
Skill level: Medium
Makes: 4

Ingredients

• soft cream cheese – 150g
• 2 egg yolks
• strong Cheddar – 120g – grated
• 3 egg whites
• double cream – 100ml
• Parmesan – 40g – grated
• s & p

Generously butter 4 ramekins and refrigerate. Preheat the oven to 180C (gas mark 4). Put the cream cheese in a bowl along with the egg yolks and beat until smooth. Add the Cheddar and a good amount of salt and pepper. Whisk the egg whites until nice and stiff. Using a large metal spoon fold a spoonful of the white into the cheese mixture, then gently follow with the remaining white. Spoon the mixture into the ramekins right up to the top.

Stand the ramekins in a roasting tin and pour in boiling water to halfway up the sides. Open the oven door and carefully place the hot water filled tin inside. Close oven door. Cook for 18 minutes, until the soufflés are risen and set. Remove and set aside to get cold.

Preheat oven to 220C (gas mark 7).

Once cold (they will have sunk a little, this is ok and not an indictment of your skills as a cook), carefully remove soufflés from the ramekins and turn out onto a greased casserole dish. Spoon the cream over and around them and scatter the Parmesan on top.

Bake for 18 minutes or until the soufflés have puffed up and the Parmesan is crunchy.

Serve with some tasty bread and a big dollop of spinach.

Verdict: Superbly rich, we had two each and were rather full so perhaps one each would have sufficed, but then again they are so delicious that you’d be gutted if you finished your first one and there wasn’t another on offer. Whereas when you’ve finished the second you are no longer yearning for anything.

Drink: We’d had a couple of pre-dinner ales down the road and rather gamely opened a bottle of red, but this went unfinished, which meant the Dalek winestopper had to make one of its rare appearances.

Entertainment: Trainspotting on Video. Eating a rich cheese soufflé during the Spud bed linen scene is really something special.