DULCE DE LECHE ICE-CREAM

In a moment of domestic madness I once bought an ice-cream machine that I have only used twice. A waste of money (not to speak about the space). This is my attempt to make some use of it, though the easiest manner to make this ice-cream is to pour the mixture into a container, put it  in the freezer and stir it well with a fork twice every hour and a half-ish. Annoyingly this method works equally well for all ice creams. And if you make ice cream for adults with alcohol you do not even need to stir it. Plus, you avoid having to clean the ice cream machine... I know, I know...

The recipe is adapted for an 'Epicurious' one. As you can see below this has a lot of sugar - and yet it tastes half as sugary as most shop-boughts ice creams. I leave the conclusion to you.

You need:
- dulce de leche made with a 400 gr condensed milk tin (see our recipe)
- 300 ml milk
- 200 ml double cream

Put the dulce de leche and the milk in a pan and heat it until the dulce the leche dissolves. Let it cool down. Separately whisk the cream until you get soft peaks. Mix the cream and the dulce de leche flavoured milk. Mix it carefully so that you do not loose any air. Put it into the ice-cream machine or in the freezer following the method above. When you are going to use it take it out of the freezer for half an hour or so.

TUNA WITH TOMATO SAUCE

This is a good way to prepare tuna as you can feed many people with just a couple of steaks. This is another recipe from my grandma. You need:

- 3 steaks of tuna
- salt
- olive oil - 4/5 spoonfuls
- 4 table spoons of flour
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 10 tablespoons of tomato sauce (see our recipe)
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3/4 of a  glass of white wine
- half a glass of water
- a bay leaf
- a handful of parsley

Heat the olive oil under medium heat. Cut the tuna diagonally until you get 6-ish thin slices from each stake. If they are very small you can 'hammer' them a bit with a glass or a cup so that they become bigger (and thinner). Salt them. Coat them with flour and then with the beaten eggs. Fry them for a couple of minutes on each side until they become golden.

Put the fried stakes on a pan. Add the tomato sauce and the bay leaf and heat it all  for 3-4 minutes. Separately mash the garlic in a pestle and mortar. Add the wine and add it all to the tuna and tomato pan. Add the water and the parsley and let it all bubble for 5-7 minutes so that some of the sauce evaporates and all the flavours mix.

This dish is better if you prepare it the day before you are going to eat it.

If your children are like mine they may not touch the raw tuna, but they were happy to help with the sauce.

MINI YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS

The children love eating these and it is fun to see the yorkshire puddings puffing up, but you have to be really careful as the oven tray gets seriously hot an it is really very easy for the children to burn themselves.

You need:
- sun flour oil (12 teaspoons)
- 100 gr plain flour
- 180 ml milk
- 2 eggs
- a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. When the oven is hot put a muffing tray with a teaspoon of sun flour oil in each hole. Put the tray into the oven and wait for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile mix the flour, milk, salt and eggs with a hand held mixer. Pour carefully the mixture into the  12 holes of the muffing tray (fill them to half only). Be really careful doing this as the fat will be very hot by now. Get it all back into the oven and bake for 12 minutes.

'ENSALADILLA' or LITTLE RUSSIAN SALAD

This is a very typical tapa in Spain (more accurately this is called a 'racion' rather than a 'tapa') and it was also one of the staple dishes on celebration menus when I was little.

You need:
- 2 large potatoes
- 2 carrots
- six french beans
- 2 eggs
- 1 can of tuna
- 4 tinned red peppers (preferably piquillo peppers)
- 8 green olives
- 8 pickles (acidic like cornichons, not sweet ones)
- 2 cups of mayonaise ( shop-bought or our 2 minutes mayonnaise sauce - see separate recipe)

Boil the potatoes, carrots and beans into small cubes and boil them (in water and salt) until they are tender. It should take 10 minutes for the potatoes and the carrots and 8 minutes for the beans). We boil them separately so that the flavours do not mix, but if you do not have time just boil them altogether.
Separately hard-boil the eggs.

Cut the eggs into small cubes and mix them with the potatoes, carrots and beans. Drain the tuna and add it (cut into small bits) to the salad. Then slice the olives and cornichons thinly and add them too. Cut the red peppers into small bits, add them to the salad. Finally add the mayonnaise and mix it all taking care not to break the potatoes.

Normally this is served covered with mayonnaise and with a few strips of red peppers on top (unlike in the picture - a bit too much mayonnaise for my children's taste...)

PARTY SAUSAGE ROLLS

It is very easy for the children to help with this. You need:

- 1 roll of ready made puff pastry
- 2 table spoons of Dijon mustard
- 4 table spoons of grated cheese (we used parmesan, but any cheese will do)
- 11 sausages (we used chipolatas, but you if you try bigger sausages you may only need 6)
- 1 egg

Preheat the oven at 200 degrees (356 F).
Cut the rolled pastry into three rectangles. Spread the mustard on top (you can also forget about the mustard if your children do not like it). Take the sausages out of their skin and put the meat along one of the sides of each of the pastry rectangles. Sprinkle the cheese on top.  Fold the pastry over the sausage meat pressing well with your fingers so that there is no air between the sausage and the pastry. Take a fork and press down the sides. Cut the rectangle into small bits (see picture below). Put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper, paint them with beaten egg and bake them for 20 minutes.

ANISEEDS BISCOTI

These are easy to make, but the dough is very sticky  - my youngest son tried to mix it and his hands got 'trapped' in it.
You need:
- 220 gr plain flour
- 220 gr sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- a pinch of salt
- a 100 gr pack of peeled almonds
- 2 heaped teaspoons of aniseeds

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with a table spoon or with your hands. Preheat the oven at 200 degrees. Make three thin cylinders with the dough and bake them (preferably on two trays as they expand when they bake) for 25 minutes (until they get golden). Take them out of the oven, wait for 5 minutes and then cut the cylinders diagonally in thick slices. Put the biscotti back on the tray (with their unbaked sides looking up) and bake them for another 10 minutes. Get them out of the oven and let them cool down on a cooling tray so that they become crunchy.

QUICK POTATOES

If you need some quick potatoes to accompany a meat dish this is what you can do. You need:

- 2 or 3 potatoes cut unto small cubes
- salt
- one and a half tablespoon of olive oil
- a teaspoon of dried oregano

Mix all the ingredients well with your hands so that all the potatoes are coated in the oil. Put them on a microwave dish, cover it with cling film ensuring there are no gaps and microwave it at 700W for 4.30 minutes. By this time they should be soft (otherwise get them back in for another couple of minutes). Then heat a pan (without any oil), put the potatoes in and let them fry for one or two minutes until they get a bit of a colour.

Easy.