SouthseaScene

Cooking for Valentine's Day need not be complicated. In fact, the joy is in preparing something to savour together. It's all about sharing the experience. So try this recipe for a romantic dinner. Ingredients: 1 tbsp vegetable oil 100g minced beef 1 small carrot, diced 1 small stick of celery, diced 1 small onion, diced 1 tsp thyme, fresh or dried salt and pepper puff pastry Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, carrots and celery. Fry on medium heat for 5 minutes and let it sweat a little. Then add the mince and garlic, stir for 5 minutes or until the meat has turned brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into two small baking dishes; heart-shaped ramekins if you have them. Roll the puff pastry and cut into shape to cover the top of the baking dishes. You can add pastry hearts or initials if you want make it even more special. Pre-heat the oven as the pastry perform much better in a preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes or ...

Summer is about enjoying the long, warm days and not stuck by the stove cooking labourious dinners. That's why the barbecue was invented! The simplest possible way to do the barbecue is to buy some sausages and burgers ready made in the supermarket. Foodie me, however, prefer to know what goes into my food. Making your own burger should not be difficult. Some prefer plain meat which they flavour later with tomatoes, lettuce, a slice of bacon, or a chunk of Stilton. I tend to mix lean steak mince with onions I have chopped up and caramelised in the pan with a spoonful of oil. Then to flavour it I raid the fridge for leftover chutney, chilli sauce or apricot conserve (my favourite!). You want to keep the mixture moist and to stick it all together, add an egg and mix well. This mixture is very good if you want to cut out gluten from your diet. Ready-made burgers often have rusk or breadcrumbs added for volume. What better to drink in the hot summer evenings than the very Brit...

My favourite dish if you can find some juicy lamb rump steak. Ingredients: 2 lamb rump steaks about 150g each 2 tbsp orange juice 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp vegetable oil 1 tbsp clear honey/maple syrup Marinate for about an hour and then grill for 5-7 minutes on each sides. Best eaten with couscous: 75g couscous 'fluffed' in boiling water for 5 minutes (in a covered dish) 1 medium onion, sliced 1 tbsp vegetable oil for frying 1 medium red pepper, sliced Fry the onion in the oil for about 15 minutes until the onion is caramelised and then add the pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add the remainder of the marinade juice to the pan, cook for 3 minutes and then add the couscous. This is one of the quickest dishes you can cook and it's the most delicious!