Nigella Beckham's FABULOUS FOOD

Coming soon....FOB's Hot Cross buns and Gingerbread Men......

Toasted sammies......scrummy

You know I have never really had much luck when it comes to toasted sandwich makers. For some reason, no matter how much butter I put on the external side of my bread, my sandwiches always end up sticking like cement!

Here, however, is a recipe for wonderful toasted sandwiches, which my QH created for us recently. The egg wash really makes them lovely and rich no matter what your filling is.

Ingreds: Butter and oil (for the pan - I use a combination as the oil prevents the butter from burning), bread with crusts removed (or leave them on if you wish), fillings eg cheese, ham, tomato, avocado etc, 2 beaten eggs with a little milk added (egg wash) in a dish which will be able to fit the sandwich in it.

Heat pan on low on stove and add approx 2 tblpsn butter and oil. Take one slice of bread and place your fillings of your liking in centre. Place a second piece of bread on top and seal the edges gently with your fingers by simply pressing down on along each edge and then place the sandwich into the egg wash dish, covering both sides of the sandwich with the wash and then place the sandwich gently onto the heated pan. Watch carefully as these cook quite quickly. The egg wash, I think, acts as a great heat conductor as well as sealing the sandwiches well keeping all the yummy filling nice and snug. Flip sandwich over carefully with an egg lift once golden on first side. Allow to cook on second side, remove and enjoy......really really delicious. Thanks QH, you are a fab cook.

Pizza pizza everywhere

Please try this when you have an hour to prepare....These pizzas are fabulous.

Firstly, make the bread mix as per instructions in my previous posting below and also the tomato sauce as per previous posting too. Heat your grill to a hot temperature. Decide what toppings you will want and prepare eg ham, prawns, sausage (I usually cook sausages prior), pineapple, olives - pitted, anchovies, satay chicken, mozarella cheese or whatever your crew like. As you can see Fob actually made this dough mix - they are her baker's hands - so get the family involved in this one....they will love being able to pick and choose their toppings.

Divide the bread dough into approx 6 portions. Roll a portion out on a floured board to approx 0.5cm thickness. Cover top with tomato sauce and anything else and top with the cheese. Place pizza on some foil and put on top shelf of oven closest to grill area. Watch carefully as depending on the temperature you will only need to cook this for approx 5-7 mins. Once the dough has a golden tinge and cheese has melted and is bubling...remove and cut up. These are delicious and beat any bought pizza hands down!!!!

Banoffee Pie....ooooooh yes please

Wow, you can't beat this for a quick and delicious desert. My family absolutely love this and quite frankly so do I.

Oven temp: 200C then down to 180C

Ingreds: a sheet of short crust pastry (I actually make my own but bought pastry is absolutely fine), 2 tins caramel, cream for whipping, vanilla essence or a tblspn icing sugar, bananas and chocolate to decorate.

Place the pastry on the base of an approx 20 cm pie dish, prick the pastry with a fork and place some foil or baking paper over top and some raw rice or ceramic beads to weigh the paper down as we will need to "blind bake" the pastry. Place the dish in a preheated 200C oven and cook for 10 mins, then reduce the heat to 180C and cook for a further 10 mins then remove the foil/paper and rice/beads and cook pastry for another 10 mins. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Meanwhile whip your cream with a little vanilla essence/icing sugar if you wish. Place in fridge to keep cool. Once pastry shell is cooled to room temp pour caramel into shell and smooth out. Peel and slice the bananas and place on top of the caramel then cover with the whipped cream. Sprinkle some grated chocolate over the top to make it look pretty! Too easy.

Now see if your family will allow you to place the finished pie in the fridge as my family have supersonic hearing and just know the minute I have finished assembling this pie and consumption time is unable to be recorded!

Bread-a-licious

I know, many of you will say no way to making bread and that is fine. I however absolutely love this bread (which really needs to be eaten the day of cooking or at least the next day) as I add my own flavours to it and turn it into Italian or whatever. It is very easy.

Oven temp: 200C. Two round cake tins.

Ingreds: 200 g fine semolina flour, 800 g plain or bakers flour, 2 x 7 g sachets of yeast (Tip: Store your yeast in the fridge and it will last quite a while), 1 tblspn caster sugar, warm water approx 700 ml (warm from the tap is fine) and anything you want to add eg olives, basil, sundried toms, garlic (crushed), herbs of your choosing etc.

Method: Mix the flours together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add 325 ml of warm water to the centre and mix in the yeast and sugar with a fork, remembering not to disturb the flour surrounding the well. Let sit for about 2 mins and you should see the yeast/sugar mix start bubbling. Mix in with fork until you get a consistency similar to porridge. Add a further 325 ml warm water and mix. Knead for 5 mins and then remove the dough and spray the bowl lightly with oil (or wipe with some butter or oil) as this will stop the dough from sticking. Place the mix back into the bowl and cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and allow to sit for 20 mins. This will it allow to "prove"....I just love that word. Cup of tea time while you wait then.......

Remove towel and punch centre with your fist.....very therapeutic.....allowing the air to escape. Roll out half of the dough and add your own goodies at this stage. I usually make one loaf with added herbs etc and leave the other plain. Place the dough in oiled round cake tins and again cover with towel and alow them to prove for another 20 mins. Place in oven, middle shelf and back for 25-35 mins. Fabulous to serve at BBQ lunch or wherever.