Stephanie's Once Only Recipe: Peach crumble dessert (a variation or two...)

A simple thing

This is just right for the end of summer (it IS coming to an end, I keep getting told), when peaches are a-plenty and a change from apple crumble might be welcome (yes, you can add apple to this, too!). Seems about right for a dessert after a late summer barbecue... These amounts are enough for 10 or 12, so you may want to cut down a bit. Also, there is another kind of peach you can use that is much available locally (see below). (Prep time: 15 mins, Baking: 25 mins.)

This week's Once Only Recipe: Pear Panini and Confetti Salad

This week I thought a refreshing salad and Panini-styled sandwich to compliment the wonderful, cooler late evening weather for supper would be perfect. So, to use the fresh cucumbers, mint and tomatoes that are still coming in, I made this great treat from the Colorado Classique cookbook (available from Amazon). The confetti salad is so easy and yes, you can use canned or frozen (thawed) corn if you can't get it fresh.>>>

Stephanie's Once Only Cooking Recipe: Lemon & Honey Muffins

This week I wanted to use some of the lemons and the abundant mint from the garden, so I thought a quick breakfast would be a good way to make yummy use of both and I had some great local honey which is just perfect for this recipe. This would also make a great dessert on a hot summer night! For the yoghurt, I like the plain/unsweetened cremoso Greek style (Milbona from Lidl is good) as it is very creamy and holds up well with the berries. Here's what you'll be needing for making the muffins as well as what makes it different:>>>

Stephanie's Once Only Recipes: Watermelon Feta Basil Bites

Summer and watermelons are synonyms of each other. Add basil and we're getting fresher. Now add feta cheese, and this becomes the summer appetizer. Get a few friends round, a cool drink or two, maybe even a barbecue ... serve these mini brochettes before hand, using local produce, and that's it. And, yes, you can substitute a leaf of mint for the basil, maybe, and even use another kind of cheese - you can get feta easily in Spain, but try a Manchego Semi-curado (that's the not-too-hard one, and less salty-tasting). Here's the how, which does not require further education:>>>

Our Once Only Cook's recipe: is a frittata a fry-up?

I want to share readers a great simple breakfast recipe I made today! They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that if you want to loose weight or not gain any, NEVER skip it! You can substitute any veggies you have in the fridge or herb flavours you prefer or have on hand, the same format works every time! Before that though let me include a link to a great website for conversions since I often use US measurements: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001723.html. So here's breakfast:

Stephanie's Once Only Recipe: Cucumber salad variations

Cukes and onions

This is a lovely, fresh summer salad. Not heavy, very refreshing. It probably won't be enough on its own, so make it a side dish that goes with anything. The secret is in the thin slices and keeping everything cold - and the proportions of spices; you can add almost any kind of herbs and spices, some ideas: mustard seeds, dill seeds or leaves, you name it. Below are a couple more ideas in detail. This will provide between 6 to 8 servings. Enjoy!

Stephanie's Once Only Kitchen: Celery, Tomato, and Basil Salad

Below is a great salad I made yesterday in spite of the fact that I don't really like celery; it was delicious! As I mentioned, it is 13 years now as of Jan 1 that I have not made the same thing twice, so in my house if you don't like it, no worries, you won't get it again! I hope your readers will enjoy it as much as we did. I served it with grilled on the BBQ boneless chicken breast that had been marinated 45 minutes in Frank's Red Hot sauce (you can buy this at a number of the grocery stores on the coast, Lidl, etc.). It has a great kick, so for most people a little goes along way. Very refreshing dinner in this heat and so affordable!>>>

Tuna and guacamole? Why not?

This is a delicious summer combination, unusual but delicious (yes, we tried it!). It's also simple and inexpensive, which is another reason we liked it. We're not sure how Mexican it might be, so let us know what you think. Ingredients for 6 (having a party, then?): 1 kilo of fresh tuna in chunks (frozen will do, and maybe even the tinned kind so long as it's in water, in which case you'll need to drain very well) for the fish, salt; and for the guacamole (you probably have your own recipe, use that): 2 medium-to-large avocados (aguacates), 1 tomato, 1/2 onion, juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 a well chopped chilli pepper (or a whole one depending on how hot you want it), 2 tablespoons coriander (dried's okay, better fresh), salt. This is what you do:>>>

What's for lunch today? Couscous, pumpkin and prawn salad

Here's a good idea: a couscous, pumpkin and prawn salad (by Laura Vichera) For the salad you'll need 350g of cous-cous (cuscús, normal or wholemeal); 300 g of nice big prawns (gambas, though not necessarily the very large expensive ones), a large slice of orange pumpkin (calabaza); 2 small spring onions (cebolleta); 1 red pepper (pimiento rojo); and a few saffron strands (hebras de azafrán). For the dressing: several mint (hierbabuena or menta, two different varieties of mint) and coriander (cilantro or culantro) leaves; a pinch of Paprika (pimentón); Tabasco; a few drops of raspberry vinegar (vinagre de frambuesa, though another kind can be used); freshly ground salt and black pepper; olive oil. Here's what you do:>>>

What's a chumbo?

Chumbera (Photo: Vicente Palacín)

You've seen them everywhere, those pinky yellow fruits at the top of rows of cacti along the side of the road, or dividing one field from another. They are the chumbos, sometimes called prickly pears; delicious to eat, but very difficult to pick and prepare to eat. The chumbo grows on a chumbera (as an higo, fig, grows on an higuera - Spanish conversation classes starting next week, people!) Below is a how-to item that will interest our more daring readers:>>>

Holy Week cooking: croquetas de bacalao

Spanish tradition, and Church exigiencies (more in the past than the present), required that meat be avoided on Fridays in general, but absolutely on Good Friday. When cod was less of a luxury item than it is today, it was considered a food that ‘levelled’ the rich with the poor (according to Harriet Gilmour) and so it became traditional fare for this holiest of holy days. Croquetas de bacalao (cod croquettes) is one of many ways to prepare it. This is the traditional recipe:>