Nigella’s spicy sausages with halloumi and peppers

 

Nigella made this recipe look so easy, It looks perfect for a  Saturday Evening girly night, when my best friend comes round, think it would be great with a big glass of rose wine :)   

If you slice them thinly enough, you can use fresh bell peppers here. Merguez is  Nigellla’s spicy sausage of choice, but chorizo has a longer fridge life if that’s a consideration.

Ingredients
8 merguez or other spicy sausages, such as chorizo (weighing about 340g/12oz in total)
1 x 250g/8oz block halloumi cheese
1 x 220g/8oz jar flame-roasted peppers, drained ( i think I have seen these quite cheap in lidl)  
1 tbsp garlic-flavoured oil
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Place the sausages into a low-sided roasting tin (this makes the cooking time shorter).
3. Cut the halloumi into 0.5cm/¼in slices and lay them on and around the sausages in the tin.
4. Cut the peppers into chunks and strew them around the sausages and cheese. Drizzle over the garlic-flavoured oil.
5. Transfer the tin to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the sausages and cheese are golden-brown. 

I am going to serve this with Italian ciabatta bread, fresh out of the oven, I just gotta find a place that stocks halloumi cheese?? hhmmmmmm

Nigella’s Chocolate pear pudding

Watched Nigella last night, it was the sos storecupboard episode, She uses her pantry and freezer and conjures up some fab meals and pudds. I have already listed her brandied bacony chicken, a few posts below. One of my favourites is the Chocolate pear pudding, it looked really yummy! 

The sponge itself does make a little bit of its own sauce, so if you really don’t want to make some separately, just serve it with chocolate ice cream.

Ingredients
For the pudding
2 x 415g/14oz cans pear halves in juice, drained
125g/4oz plain flour
25g/1oz cocoa powder
125g/4oz caster sugar
150g/5oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 free-range eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
For the sauce
1 x 170g/6oz can evaporated milk
½ tsp instant espresso powder
150ml/5fl oz golden syrup
100g/3½oz dark chocolate, minimum 70 per cent cocoa solids, broken into pieces
Method
1. For the pudding, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and grease a 22cm/8½in square ovenproof dish with butter.
2. Arrange the pear halves over the base of the dish.
3. Place all the remaining pudding ingredients into a food processor and blend to make a smooth batter with a soft dropping consistency.
4. Spread the batter over the pears in the dish, then transfer to the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the pudding from the oven and let it stand for 5-10 minutes, then cut into slices.
6. For the sauce, place all the sauce ingredients into a small pan and heat gently, stirring frequently, until smooth and well combined.
7. To serve, place the pudding into bowls and pour over the chocolate sauce