ONION SOUP

Another French classic that children love in the winter. You need:

- 500 gr onion (sliced thinly)
- a table spoon of olive oil
- 50 gr of butter
- a pinch of thyme leaves (we used dry thyme)
- a bay leaf
- a glass of white wine
- two teaspoons of sugar
- a tablespoon of flour
- bread (sourdough or baguette): one slice per person
- grated cheese (around 250 gr)
-water (around 750 ml)
-salt

Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onions over medium to high heat for 5 to 7 minutes. You really should use a frying pan for this, as if you try to do this in a soup pan the onions will not fry properly ( they will produce moist and therefore they will 'boil' instead of fry)The trick is to get the onions golden-brown (keep watching the onions while they fry as it is really easy to burn them). Then add  the sugar and flour and mix well. Add the white whine and wait for 2-3- minutes until it starts to evaporate. Transfer it all to a soup pan, cover with water, add the thyme, bay leaf and salt and let it all boil over low heat for 40 minutes.

Before serving the soup, toast the bread. Put the soup in the bowls, add the bread on top and then sprinkle generously with the grated cheese. Put the bowls under the grill  and wait until the cheese gets golden (3-4 minutes, depending on the strength of your grill) Serve immediately.

It is a bit difficult to get the children to help much on this as slicing onions is no fun (supermarkets now sell sliced onions  though). Also, be careful if they help you to put the bowls under the grill (in fact, put the bowls on a tray or you will burn yourself).

MADELEINES

We are having a bit of a French theme for a couple of weeks. These madeleines are very lemony and truly moreish. You need a madeleines' tray  - we have a silicon one that we bought some time ago and had never used until now.

You need:
- 2 eggs
- 120 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g plain flour
- one teaspoon of baking powder
- zest and lemon juice of one lemon

Preheat the oven at 240 degrees.

Mix the sugar and eggs. Then mix the flour with the baking powder and fold it into the eggs and sugar mixture. Melt 100 g of butter and add it to the mixture. Then add the zest of the lemon and the lemon juice.

Melt the remaining butter and brush it the madeleines tray with it. Put the mixture into the madeleines tray (one table spoon for each madeleine). Put it into the oven and turn the oven down to 200 degrees as soon as you put the tray in. Bake for 10 minutes. This mixture should be enough for 22-24 madeleines.

COURGETTE RIBBONS

We have tried a new gadget to make vegetable ribbons (a zoodle cutter bought in Amazon - easy to handle, small and around £17). You need:

- 3 courgettes
- 200 g raw prawns
- two cloves of garlic (sliced)
- three table spoons of olive oil
- a handful of parsley
- one leek (chopped thinly)
- juice of half a lemon

Heat two table spoons of oil in a large pan (medium heat). Lower the heat, add the leek  and let it fry until the leak is soft. Cut the courgettes into ribbons (you do this by twisting them in the zoodle cutter like if you are sharpening a pen, it takes a minute per courgette more or less). Add the courgettes to the pan, increase the heat and let them fry for 10 minutes.

In a separate pan heat (medium)  the remaining spoonful of olive oil and fry the sliced garlic for a minute until it gets golden. Add the prawns and let them fry for 5 minutes. Right at the end add the lemon juice, and the chopped parsley, let the sauce bubble for 30 seconds and add it all to the courgettes.

Toss it all together and serve.

VEGETABLES CAKE

This is a nice and easy starter. We got the recipe  from my mother over Christmas. She had got it from the internet (since she has finally discovered it!) but I am afraid she could not remember the source.

You need:
- 15 french beans
- 2 carrots
- one large onion
- one courgette
- 2 eggs
- 210 ml of cream (we use single cream)
- salt
- black pepper
- 2 table spoons of olive oil

For the sauce:
- a bowl of mayonnaise ( see our 2 minutes mayonnaise recipe)
- 2 piquillo peppers

Preheat the oven at 170 degrees.

Dice all the vegetables (see size in the picture below). Parboil the beans and carrots during 6 minutes in boiling water. In a separate pan heat the oil and fry the onion for 5 minutes under low heat, then add the courgette over medium heat for another 4 minutes and then get rid of the oil.

Beat the eggs, add the cream,  the add all the vegetables and the salt and pepper. Put the mixture into a loaf tin covered with baking paper (no need to grease it) . Bake 5for 40-4 minutes at 170 degrees.  When you take it off the oven wait until the cake gets cold before you un-mould it.

For the sauce, blitz the mayonnaise with the piquillo peppers either in a food processor or with a hand held blender.

'SQUID IN ITS INK' (CALAMARES EN SU TINTA)

New year special: one of our favourite dishes. Though children may initially dislike the colour of this dish, they just need to taste one mouthful and it will easily become one of their favourite foods. Try it with plain rice. Or with lots of bread. But whatever you do, do not show to the kids the inside of the squid, nor the ink, or they might be put off from squid for ever.

You need:
- 500 gr squid (clean and cut into mouth-bite pieces)
- the ink of each squid (ask the fishmonger to give you the ink- they come inside a kind of white bag, like a little sausage). If you cannot get the natural ink, some fishmongers sell small plastic sachets of artificial ink which tastes very good too (and makes the dish even darker)
- tomato sauce ( see our recipe - 8 table spoonfuls)
- olive oil
- a clove of garlic
- parsley
- half a glass of white wine
- a tiny bit of hot water

Put a couple of olive oil spoonfuls in a pan. Add the calamari and let them fry (over high heat) for 4-5 minutes. They will release some water - wait until all the water evaporates. Add the tomato sauce. Then mash the garlic clove with the parsley (with the pester and mortar), add the wine and pour it all over the squid.
Now, put the ink bags into a small colander, pour a bit of hot water on them and mash with the back of a spoon so that the ink falls on the squid.
Let it all simmer for 15 minutes over low heat.
This dish keeps well for a couple of days in the fridge ( and it is probably better the day after you prepare it)
Do not add salt to the squid as they are naturally salty.

JAM SNAILS

All you need is:

- shop bought puff pastry
- jam (we did this with home made damson jam which is very dark, but any jam works well)

Heat the oven at 200 degrees. Spread the puff pastry (a rectangle) with the jam. Roll it as a swiss roll (along its shorter side). Cut it into slices (around 1.5 cms tick) Cover a baking tray with baking paper and put the slices on top, flatten them a bit. You can paint them with egg yoke, but we found that the jam already gives them a gloss, so we missed this step. Bake for 17-18 minutes until the pastry gets golden and the jam makes them look nice and messy.

FLAPJACKS

This works well for winter cake sales or food presents.
You need:
- 500 gr rolled oats
- 250 gr butter
- 250 gr sugar
- 175 gr golden syrup
- 100 gr desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan and melt it. Take it off the heat, add the rolled oats and finally the coconut. Put it all on an oven tin (grease it beforehand or cover it with a silicon mat). Leave it in the oven for 20 minutes. Then take it off the oven and wait for 10 minutes. Score it into squares and then wait until it is completely cold. Cut it into squares and eat.