Roasted Garlic & Prosciutto Alfredo

1-2 bulbs of garlic
1 pack prosciutto
1/2 - 1 pint of heavy cream
Some good quality Parmesan cheese, grated
Olive oil and butter
Black pepper
Sea salt
Fettuccine

Take as much of the outer layers of skin off the garlic bulb as you can, then slice it across the top so the majority of the cloves have been exposed. Place into a small ovensafe dish that has a lid (casserole or similar) and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Put the lid on a bake in the over at 325F for an hour.

When done, remove from oven and place on a plate to allow to cool. Once cool enough to handle, you should be able to easily squeeze out the cloves.

Heat olive oil and butter (about 1tbsp of each) in a large saute pan. Once the butter is melted, add the roasted garlic cloves and prosciutto (tear it up into smaller pieces). Fry until the prosciutto is fragrant and changing color a little. Now add the heavy cream and bring the temperature up high until it starts to bubble. You want to keep it this way until it has reduced down to a thicker sauce; just watch it doesn't boil over.

Once the sauce has thickened up add the Parmesan and stir it in until melted. Taste and season as required (you may not need any salt as the prosciutto and Parmesan already have quite a lot).

You'll want to cook the fettuccine alongside the making of the sauce so that at the end you can bring it all together and serve.

Ginger, Turmeric & Carrot Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry powder 

1 tsp turmeric powder
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
5 carrots, sliced
2" piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 15oz can coconut milk
3 cups stock (vegetable or chicken)
Salt and pepper to taste

• Cook onion in olive oil until soft and translucent, add the ginger, turmeric and curry powder, cook another minute or two.
• Add the carrots and cook several minutes until they soften a little.
• Add stock and coconut milk, stir, season with salt and pepper.
• Simmer everything for 25 minutes or so until the carrots are very soft.
• Transfer to a blender and puree until completely smooth.

Good topped with some chopped cilantro.

Basic salad

Whole lettuce of your choice
Handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Half yellow bell pepper, sliced
Half green bell pepper, sliced
Half red onion, sliced
Vinaigrette

Arrange thusly...

Grilled lemon chicken

3-4 chicken breasts

1/3 cup olive oil
2+ cloves garlic, finely chopped
Zest and juice of one large lemon
1 tsp honey
Some parsley, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Combine marinade ingredients and then place it with chicken in container or ziplock bag. Marinade at least 30 minutes or overnight. Grill the chicken (duh).

Calabacitas

1 x zucchini (aka courgette)
1 x yellow squash
1 x white onion
3-4 cloves garlic
1 x poblano pepper
1 x jalapeno
3-4 x roma tomatoes
1 can sweetcorn
salt and pepper for seasoning
Cotija cheese (can substitute with feta) and chopped cilantro for garnish

Start by roasting the tomatoes at 400F for 30 minutes.

Next, quarter the zucchini and squash lengthways then chop into thin slices. Deseed the poblano and cut into small chunks. Quarter the jalapeno (do not deseed). Finely chop the garlic.

Roughly dice the onion and fry it and the poblano in a tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a large frying pan -- cook for somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes until the pepper has softened and the onion has got some color on it. Add the garlic and stir; cook another 30 seconds or so until fragrant.

Transfer a few spoonfuls of the onion/pepper/garlic mix to a blender, then add the zucchini and squash to the pan. Season well and stir to combine. Lower the heat while you prepare the tomatoes which have hopefully finished roasting about now if your timing is good :-)

Pull off as much skin from the roasted tomatoes as you can and drop into the blender along with one quarter of the jalapeno. Blend until smooth and taste -- if not sufficiently spicy add another jalapeno quarter and try again. Repeat until you get the heat you want.

Add the tomato puree to the pan and stir to coat. If it seems a bit dry add some water -- you might rinse out the blender with some water to get every bit of tomato out from there.

Return the heat to medium, add the sweetcorn and simmer for around 8 minutes. Don't overcook or the vegetables lose their bite.

Absolutely fantastic in tacos with cotija (or feta) and cilantro topping.

Chicken Pita Sandwiches

Chicken and marinade
~1.5lbs chicken tenders
1 cup Greek yoghurt
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

To serve
Pita bread
Tzatziki sauce
1 small red onion, sliced or diced
1 large tomato, sliced or diced (or sub for some cherry/grape tomatoes)
1 green bell pepper, sliced or diced
Half a cucumber, peeled, de-seeded and diced
Some pitted Kalamata olives

Mix the marinade in a large bowl. Add the chicken and cover. Leave for at least 30 minutes, overnight is better.

Fry the chicken in a little olive oil. Try not to bring too much of the marinade along for the ride. Set aside and keep warm.

Warm the pita bread (easy technique: wrap in damp kitchen paper and microwave). Place the pita into a square of aluminum foil, spread generously with tzatziki and then add chicken and veggies. Fold up and secure with the foil. It's ready to eat...