Baked with herbs and chilli, and served with a drizzle of honey, this feta is salty, sweet, spicy and herby,” says former Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, “making for the most delicious warm dip that really does everything.”
Baked feta with chilli, honey and thyme
Serves: 6
Ingredients:
2 x 200g packets of feta cheese
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasinga large sprig of fresh lemon thyme, leaves picked
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
200g salted crisp crackers, warmed in the oven
Honey, for drizzling
Slices of crusty bread, to serve
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6. Lightly grease a small roasting dish.
2. Put the feta cheese right into the dish and drizzle generously with the oil. Sprinkle over the thyme, oregano and chilli. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. For the last 5 minutes of baking, add the crackers to a tray and warm through.
3. Take the foil off the feta and drizzle over the honey. Get your warm crackers out and spread with the warm, salty, sweet, herby feta. Mop up that oil with warm crusty bread.
Coconut fish noodles
“This aromatic cod dish takes a few of the things I learnt in Thailand and some of the influences from my own family’s cooking and mixes them with one of my favourite ingredients: noodles,” says Hussain. “It’s fragrant, warming and so easy to make.”
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
2 tbsp coconut oil
20g desiccated coconut
2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp ground black pepper
4 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp salt
3 lime leaves, thinly sliced
2 x 400ml tins of coconut milk
225g rice noodles
375g cod loins, chopped into chunks
To serve:
2 large red chillies, thinly sliced
Large handful of fresh coriander
Lime wedges
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6. Have a casserole dish ready, one that has a lid.
2. Add the coconut oil to the dish with the desiccated coconut and put into the oven for the coconut to brown – this should literally only take a few minutes.
3. As soon as the coconut is golden, take out. Now to add the rest of your ingredients. Add the garlic, turmeric, pepper, fish sauce, salt, lime leaves and coconut milk. Mix well.
4. Crush the noodles in the palm of your hand and scatter into the coconut mixture. Now add the cod chunks, put the lid on and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the noodles and fish are fully cooked through.
5. Give it a mix to break up the fish chunks. Spoon into bowls, scatter with some sliced red chilli and coriander and serve with a wedge of lime.
Chocolate cookie pie
“This cookie pie is exactly what it says on the tin: a deep-filled pie made with cookie dough ‘pastry’, filled with chocolate wafer bars, hazelnuts and chocolate spread,” says Hussain. “It’s indulgent, decadent, fun and all-round delicious.”
Serves: 12-16
Ingredients:
For the cookie dough:
200g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
325g soft brown sugar
2 medium eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
425g plain flour, sifted
1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
400g dark chocolate chips
For the filling:
750g chocolate hazelnut spread
200g roasted chopped hazelnuts
200g chocolate-covered wafer biscuits, chopped into cubes
Method:
1. Start by making the dough. Add the butter to a large bowl with the sugar and whisk till the mixture is light and creamy. Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and almond and incorporate well.
2. Now add the dry ingredients – the flour, bicarb and salt – and mix till you have a stiff cookie dough. Add your chocolate chips and make sure they are evenly dispersed into the dough.
3. Divide the mixture into two-thirds for the base and sides and a third for the top. Lightly grease and line the base of a 20cm deep cake tin or tart tin with a loose-bottomed base. Take the large ball of dough and gently roll out on a lightly floured surface so it is large enough to fit the base and sides of the cake tin, with a tiny bit of overhang to connect the top of the pie. Press it into the tin.
4. Take the chocolate hazelnut spread and mix with the roasted hazelnuts. Add half the mixture to the lined cookie dough tin. Top with the chopped chocolate- covered wafer biscuits, then top with the rest of the chocolate spread mix and level off.
5. Take the small bit of cookie dough that is left over and roll out to the size of the top. With a little water on your finger, just dampen the top of the cookie dough around the top edge. Pop the top of the pie on and pinch the edges to seal. Cut off any excess. Now leave the whole thing to sit in the freezer for 1 hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5.
7. Bake the pie in the oven for 35-40 minutes till the dough is golden. Take out of the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin. I hate to say this to you, but you still can’t eat this. We must wait for it to chill in the fridge completely overnight. I promise it’s worth the wait. Loosen the pie from the tin before chilling or it becomes very difficult to remove.
8. Take out of the tin after your long wait, cut into wedges and enjoy with a cup of tea. Or even better still, enjoy on a picnic!
‘Nadiya’s Everyday Baking’ by Nadiya Hussain (published by Penguin Michael Joseph, £25; photography by Chris Terry).
