Paprika Chicken Marylands

Chicken marylands, skin removed. Rub with sweet paprika (lots) and salt and place in glass dish.

Spuds, cut into wedges and microwaved in white oven dish.

Bake marylands and spuds on fan grill, 180 degrees, for about 45 mins. Drizzle chicken with lime juice occasionally.

Serve with asparagus, microwaved and charred on grill plate, and grilled haloumi.

Result: 5
Preparation: non-existent

Felafel with Salsa

Felafel, somewhat to Charmaine's recipe. Leave out the cracked wheat and go easy on the wholemeal flour. Cook on BBQ on low heat for 20-30 mins. Make salsa with tomato, red capsicum, cucumber and diced orange, with a little rice vinegar. Serve with rolls crusted up on the BBQ and harissa mayonnaise. Eat outside.

Result: 4
Preparation: easy, soak chickpeas a day in advance.

Mini Pizzas

Not a dinner, for nibbles - good for a bring a plate do.

2 sheets puff pastry, cut into circles with a biscuit cutter.

Mix in a bowl:
1 onion, finely diced
1 small red capsicum, finely diced
50g salami, finely chopped
12 olives, finely chopped

Put pastry circles on tray with baking paper. Spread with passata, sprinkle on topping mix and top with grated mozzarella. Bake at 180 degrees fan bake for about 15 mins.

Result: 5
Preparation: easy - took about an hour.

Lamb Shank Tagine

Soak tagine in water for 24 hours. Lamb shanks, cut in half, browned in non-stick frypan. Heat tagine on a heat diffuser for about 10 mins. Put in a little oil and ghee and gently fry thinly sliced onion and garlic. Spices: saffron, salt, cumin powder, cumin seeds, all pounded in m&p, plus some powdered ginger. Fry momentarily with onion. Cinnamon sticks. Mound lamb shanks on top. 2 chicken stock cubes, little bit of water. Sliced sweet potato stacked around lamb (but this should have gone in a bit later). Sprigs of coriander on top (remove after a while). Cook slowly (but not too slowly - liquid should be simmering) for about 3 hours. About 1/2 hr before completion, add chopped dates and honey. Would be amazing with a leaner lamb such as shoulder.

Serve with cous cous and green veges with mint.

Result: 4 (5 without the chewy bits)
Preparation: not a lot to do, but a long time to cook.

Sausage Rolls

2 x sheets of puff pastry, thawed on the bench

1 grated carrot
1 finely chopped onion
Pork mince + beef mince, about 500g total
splash Worstershire sauce
splash tomato sauce
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tsp dried oregano
1 egg

Cut pastry sheets in half. Fill and seal. Cut in half. Cook at 200 degrees fan bake for 20 mins. Serve with salad and tomato sauce.

Result: 5. Even Caitlin ate it.
Preparation: quite easy

BBQ Chicken & Cous Cous Salad

Marinate 500g diced chicken thigh for 1/2 hour in: 1 tsp sweet paprika, 2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, ground pepper, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, juice of 1/2 orange. Skewer up and BBQ.

Finely dice red, green and yellow capsicum. Make cous cous. Mix. Dress with lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Result: 4. Great on a hot day.
Preparation: dead easy.

Zucchini Fritters

1 large zucchini, shredded with mandolin. Mix in a bowl with besan (chickpea) flour, 2 eggs, salt and a bit of cumin. Heat ghee in non-stick pan. Drop large spoonfuls of mixture in and cook like a pancake. Serve with leftover curry and some yoghurt sauce.

Result: 3 (but bonus points for using up the zucchini)
Preparation: surprisingly easy