LEEK AND EDAMAME SALAD

You need

- 3 leaks (chopped into 3 or 4 cm thick chunks) 

- edamame beans (2 handfulls)

- for the sauce: 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 teaspoons of vinegar, salt, a quarter of a red pepper, a quarter of an onion, a quarter of a garlic clove and parsley

Steam the leaks during five minutes (or boil them for 3-4 minutes) and put them on a dish. Add the edamame beans on top of the leaks (we buy them already boiled. If you buy raw beans just boil them in salty water for 4 minutes). Put all the ingredients of the sauce in a food processor and blitz it until all the ingredients are very thinly chopped and the oil is emulsionated (it normally takes 5 seconds) Add the sauce to the leaks and beans and serve. Add a little bit of olive oil on top of it all just so that the salad gets a nice shine. 

SALMON IN PEPITORIA

This is a recipe from my grandmother. Very easy but also very tasty, and yet rather delicate. She used to do this with conger (which was always full of fish - bones) as at the time salmon was simply unaffordable - she could have never imagined that salmon would actually become cheaper than conger or even sardines.

You need:

- four skinless steaks of salmon (the better the fish the better the flavour - but if you actually get hold of really fresh wild fish then just grill it or roast it and  eat it without any sauce)
- two eggs
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of parsley
- 1 clove of garlic
- half a glass of white wine
- one glass of water
- a bay leave
- salt

Boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Peel them and separate the yokes from the egg whites. Chop the egg whites into small squares and reserve.
In a pan mix the olive oil with the egg yokes with a fork (without any heat). Put the pan on the heat. Mash a garlic clove (with the pester and mortar), mix it with the white wine and add it to the egg yokes. When you see bubbles (after a minute more or less) add the water and the bay leave.
Sprinkle the salmon steaks with the salt and put them into the sauce. Let them simmer for 3 to 4 minutes (if you like the salmon well done leave it in for another 2 to 3 minutes) You may need to add a bit more salt to the sauce. Right at the end sprinkle the parsley and then the egg yoke.

COURGETTES SOUP

This is not only very easy to make but also a good 'skinny dish' - and children like it too.
You need:
- 5 courgettes (cut into not too small chunks. We peel them only because the children prefer this not to be 'too green' but if you do not mind the colour then leave some or all of the skin in)
- 2 leaks, cut into not too thin slices
- a table spoon of oil
- 500 ml of boiling water (you can alter the amount of water depending on how thick you like this soup to be)
- salt

Heat the oil in a deep pan (under high heat). Add the leaks and fry for 5 minutes, then add the courgettes and the salt and fry for another five minutes. Then add the water, reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Finally blend the soup with a hand held blender (or in a food processor). Serve on its own or with parmesan cheese.

DULCE DE LECHE

It is interesting for the children to see the changes of texture in the condensed milk, but if you cook this in a express cooker be very careful with the tin, as the tin can explode if you do not handle it carefully.

You only need a tin of condensed milk and water.

Put the tin into an express cooker (or a normal pan). Cover it with water and cook for 35 minutes on really low heat (or longer if you want a thicker dulce de leche). If you cook this in a normal pan (again on very low heat) you will need to simmer it for 3 hours.

Open the tin and there is the dulce de leche.

You can it this as a spread on bread or with ice-cream.

It is seriously sweet so a small tin goes a long way...

LENTILS AND TOMATO SALAD

This is a very easy (no cook) side dish. You need:

- a tin of lentils ( you can also cook them from scratch but tinned lentils and chickpeas are really good nowadays)
- 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce
- a pinch of salt
- two tablespoons of olive oil
- one and a help tablespoons of wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together and serve with any pork or poultry dish.

TOMATO AND CHEESE LOAF

You can do lots of variations of the flavours for this savoury cake (and it is a good way for children to learn about pairing flavours)

You need:
3 eggs
225 gr self raising flour
100 ml white wine
100 ml olive oil
salt
3 handfuls of goats cheese (cut into little cubes)
3 handfuls of dried tomatoes (cut into small chunks)
5 basil leaves, chopped.

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees. Mix the eggs, flour, wine, oil and salt. Then add the cheese, tomatoes and basil and mix well (but carefully so that you do not break up the cheese). Put it all into a greased loaf tin and cook for 45 to 50 minutes. Let it cool down a little before you cut it.

GRATED COURGETTES

We eat this often with any meat or poultry (especially good with chicken and roast duck). It also goes well with pasta.
You need:
- 4 courgettes
- a handful of parsley
-3 table spoons of olive oil
- salt
- a quarter of a teaspoon of grated nutmeg

Grate the courgettes (thickly as in the picture). Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the courgettes and let them fry for 8 minutes (stir them a couple of times) then add the salt, the chopped parsley and the grated nutmeg and let it all fry for another 3 to 4 minutes.
You can alter all the measurements to your taste.

As you will see when you cook this the courgettes lose a lot of volume so you will end up with a relatively modest amount of veg at the very end. It is interesting for the children to see how differently the courgettes cook if you add the salt at the beginning ( they 'boil' as water is released) or at the end ( they fry)