vegan bean chilli.

A chilli for the chilly months. This cosy and warming dish is perfect for getting those veggies in after the festive season. Whether you're in a post-cheese slump or are fighting the sniffles, this could be wholesome, veg-packed dish for you. It's vegan, dairy free and gluten free too - plus since it's so easy to whip up and batch cook it's perfect for lazy Winter teas and midweek meals.

spicy king prawn spaghetti with samphire.

A simple summer pasta recipe with a kick. Perfect for seafood lovers, this dish mixes juicy king prawns with sweet peppers, salty samphire, zesty lemon and a tingle of red chilli. Easily adjusted to tastes, you can make this for spice fiends and chilli beginners alike. 

vietnamese summer rolls with a peanut and chilli dipping sauce.

somewhere along my instagram news feed amongst tasty tapas, carefully decorated cupcakes and plates brimming with full english breakfasts, i remember coming across a picture of some vietnamese summer rolls. i looked up a few recipes straight away and learnt that i needed to search for a pretty key ingredient... rice paper wrappers. so when i headed to london the other weekend something i remembered to search for some in a soho supermarket :)

i based my recipe on one i found on the channel 4 food website by simon rimmer; there are a few altered ingredients and these quantities feed 2 greedy people around four rolls each :) he also includes a sauce though i made this peanut and chilli dipping sauce recipe up myself after a little experimentation.

the rice paper wrappers should look something a little like these. but what else will you need?

nigella lawson's crab linguine with chilli and lemon.

I wish I could say that I invented this delicious crab linguine recipe but alas it another of the lovely Nigella's. 

With my fave combo ingredients of garlic, lemon, chilli, peppery leaves and of course seafood - I can't get enough of this dish. It's gorgeous as a main meal but any leftovers are amazing the next day served cold as a light lunch. 

Shopping list.
(Serves two)
♥ 120g linguine
♥ 170g white crab meat
♥ Two garlic cloves, crushed and finely chopped
♥ One red chilli, sliced and deseeded
♥ Half a lemon lemon, juice and zest
♥ Sea salt and pepper
♥ 75ml good quality olive oil
♥ Rocket, to serve

I do get a bit frightened of de-seeding chillis and wash my hands every 3 minutes. but other than that this is such a simple recipe. In short, you boil the pasta whilst putting the rest of the ingredients together in a pestle and mortar, tossing them all together with the crab meat at the end. 

I made it with white crab meat, not with a mixture of white and brown in Nigella's recipe. It is quite expensive at £2-£2.50 for a 170g tin but it's so worth it when you think about how much you might spend on this in a restaurant. I also used a mix of watercress and rocket but ended up using mainly rocket. It's becoming an addiction.

Click to try the crab linguine with chilli and watercress a la Nigella! Or try out my other seafood recipes here...