Blue Cheese Pappardelle

Ingredients:

• 2 small or 1 large courgette
• 5 chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
• 150ml of double cream
• 1 large or 2 small onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (crushed, to taste)
• 150g of blue cheese, crumbled
• freshly ground black pepper
• small pinch of salt
• 3 chicken breasts, diced
• Pappardelle or Tagliatelle pasta - enough for 3-4 portions

1. In a large pan or wok, gloss the onion, add chicken and brown it. Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper and fry until the mushrooms soften up a bit.
2. Wash the courgettes. Using a potato peeler, slice them into thin, long ribbons.
3. Add the courgettes to the pan and toss everything together. Fry until the courgettes are soft.
4. Cook the pasta according to instructions and drain it.
5. In a milk-pan, slowly bring the cream to boil. Add in the cheese and mix constantly until all the cheese is dissolved.
6. Add the pasta to the wok and pour the cheese sauce evenly over it. Mix everything together. Season to taste with more pepper if needed. Add the garlic, mix it in and serve.

Cherry Crumble

Such an unbelievably simple recipe and yet the result is absolutely delicious :) And one of your 5-a-day! ;)

Filling:

Ingredients:
700g frozen cherries (I used 2 x 350g boxes of Asda's frozen Morello Cherries, but you can use any mixture of berries for this recipe - strawberries, raspberries and blueberries work quite well, too.)
1 tsp of almond or vanilla extract (or a bit of both)
3 tbsp of plain flour
about 100g of sugar or honey (or to taste)

Crumble:

Ingredients:
300g of plain flour
175g of sugar
200g of unsalted butter (cubed and at room temperature)

1. Place the cherries in a cake tin. Add enough sugar to lightly coat the cherries, the almond extract and the flour.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the cherries in the oven for about 3 minutes, or until they're completely defrosted and warm. Take them out of the oven and give them a stir and a taste. If you want them a bit sweeter, add more sugar (but keep in mind that the crumble will be very sweet!). If there is too much juice at the bottom, add another spoon of flour.
3. For the crumble, place the flour, sugar and butter in a large bowl and rub together with your fingers until you get the texture of bread crumbs.
4. Sprinkle the crumble on top of the cherries and return to the oven for another 40-45 minutes, or until the crumble is nice and golden.
5. You could serve it with some cream or custard, but frankly I think it's so good it's best eaten on it's own.