We have been experimenting with pizza dough recipes for years....and have finally come up with a great one. It needs to be proved in the fridge for at least 3 days, and produces a pizza that is very similar to the ones we ate on holiday in Naples. Check it out, you will not be disappointed.
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
500g Strong Bread Flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast
300ml water at room temperature
Pizza toppings of your choice
Method
1) Put the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
2) Add the water and mix well with your hands just until the ingredients come together.
3) Cover the bowl with cling film and allow to stand for 30 minutes.
4) Knead the dough well for 10 minutes.
5) Make into a ball and place into a container with a tight fitting lid. (We use a Tupperware type.) The dough will rise so make sure the container is big enough to allow for this.
6) Put into the fridge for at least 3 days...4 if possible.
7) After that time remove from fridge and portion into 4 balls. As there are only 2 of us we usually wrap 2 balls in cling film and freeze them for another meal.
8) Cover the balls with cling film until you want to use them.
9) Preheat the oven to its hottest setting. We always use a pizza stone (which needs to go into the oven when you turn it on) and a peel but you can use a baking sheet instead.
10) Roll the dough ball out into a round measuring about 25cm/10 inches. Place on the well floured peel. Crimp up the edge of the pizza and top with your favourite ingredients.
11) We made 2 types.... a) Spread over 1 heaped tablespoon tomato frito/ passata. Cover with 4 sliced mushrooms, arrange 6 slices of chorizo evenly, followed by a sprinkling of capers. Cut a buffalo mozzarella into slices and arrange half of it evenly over the other ingredients. Finish off with a sprinkling of chilli flakes and another of mixed herbs. Finally a drizzle of olive oil
12) The other topping .....b) was bolognaise. We had some left over sauce from the tagliatelli dish we made a few days ago. Simply spread about 100g of the sauce over the pizza base, top with 4 sliced mushrooms....then finish off with the sliced buffalo mozzarella that was left from the other pizza and a drizzle of olive oil.
13) Slide the pizza on to your oven stone or put the baking sheet into the very hot oven. It will take between 5 to 10 minutes to bake. It is faster on a pizza stone so keep your eye on it. We do our pizzas one at a time, as you get a better result. Once cooked slide onto a plate, cut into portions and tuck in.
 

A really delicious pork fillet recipe that is so quick and easy to make. 
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 pork fillet approximately 650g in weight, fully trimmed
Marinade
Plenty of freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon dried garlic (fresh will burn)
1 tablespoon Extra Virgen olive oil
Sauce
2 tablespoons Extra Virgen olive oil
20g butter
100ml brandy
50ml cream
1 beef stock cube dissolved in 50ml hot water
Cornflour (if necessary)
Ground black pepper and salt to taste
 Method
1) Coarsely grind plenty of black pepper on to a large plate. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the pepper and repeat with the dried garlic. Then drizzle the olive over these ingredients evenly.
2) Roll the fillet really well into this mixture, making sure that the marinade is pressed into the flesh and even all over.
3) Allow to stand for an hour covered in cling film.
4) Heat the butter and olive oil in a frying pan (that has a lid) over a high heat and add the fillet. Brown on all sides.
5) Put the lid on the pan, turn the heat down to low, and cook for a further 15 minutes, turning the fillet over half way through that time. If you like the meat well done cook for 20 minutes.
6) Remove the fillet from the pan and put on to a serving plate. Keep warm in your oven at 70ºC while you make the sauce.
8) Return the pan to a high heat, add the brandy to deglaze the juices and flambé. Add the cream and the beef stock.
9) If the sauce needs to be thickened slightly add half a teaspoon of cornflour mixed with a very small amount of water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and add more coarsely ground black pepper. Check for salt and add more if necessary.
10) Bring the pork fillet out of the oven and slice into medallions diagonally on a chopping board. Arrange slices on the serving plate with the sauce poured over. Garnish with chopped fresh herbs. Serve with vegetables of your choice.

Serves 4 people
This delicious fish recipe is so easy to make. You literally mix all of the ingredients together in a casserole dish and put it into a hot oven for 20 minutes. Then it's ready to eat. Rosada is a very popular fish in Spain but you can also use Cod instead.
Ingredients
500g frozen Rosada (or Cod) thawed out
12 green olives cut in half (we used the ones stuffed with anchovies)
3 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Half a red pepper chopped into fine dice
1 handful of chopped coriander
1 handful of chopped mint
Juice of a lemon
4 tablespoons extra virgen olive oil
8 Broccoli Florets
1 Courgette cut into medium dice
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
Chilli flakes to taste (we use 3 teaspoons but we like spice)
2 tablespoons tomato frito or passata
Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste
Method
1) Put the thawed rosada or cod on to plenty of kitchen paper and cover the fish with even more. Then squeeze as much of the liquid out of the fish on to the paper as possible. If you don't do this once your casserole is cooked it will be swimming in liquid.
2) Take a good sized casserole dish and put the fish in its base.
3) Put all of the other ingredients on top of the fish and mix well with your hands until everything is evenly incorporated.
4) Seal the top of the casserole tightly with foil and put into the centre of a preheated oven at 250ºC for 20 minutes.
5) Remove from the oven and carefully take off the foil topping as there will be steam coming off the casserole.
6) Serve with a crisp baked potato...or creamy mash.

I can hear you saying....not another Bolognaise recipe!!! Well please bear with us as this is a really healthy slant to a very popular dish. We use chicken breast mince instead of beef. The taste is just as good but it's a lot lighter and lower in calories. We mince our own chicken but you can chop the breast really finely with a sharp cooks knife, or buy it ready minced.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
400g chicken breast mince (you could use turkey)
1 x 410g can chopped tomatoes
250ml red wine
3 tablespoons tomato frito or passata
1 chicken stock cube
1 heaped teaspoon mixed herbs
A good pinch of chilli flakes
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Grated rind and juice of half a lemon
300g freshly cooked Tagliatelle, or any pasta of your choice
Grated Parmesan
Method
1) In a medium sized saucepan (with a lid) heat the oil over a high heat and add the onion. Sauté for 2/3 minutes stirring constantly.
2) Turn the heat down to med/low and add the garlic. Continue to cook till the onions are translucent.
3) Add the minced chicken and cook through, stirring all of the time so that the meat separates out evenly.
4) Add the tomatoes, red wine,tomato frito/passata, crumbled stock cube, herbs and chilli flakes.
5) Bring back to the boil stirring and add salt and grindings of black pepper to taste. Put the lid on the pan.
6) Turn down the heat and allow to simmer slowly for 30 minutes.
7) Stir in the lemon juice and rind.
8) Serve with the tagliatelle (or pasta of your choice) garnished with a little chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese on the side.

Cooks Tip. This recipe also makes a great meat sauce for lasagne.

This is a great lock down back up dish using frozen (thawed) turkey legs. It's real comfort food and makes a cheap, tasty and very easy supper dish.

Serves 2 people
Ingredients
2 turkey legs, skinned
Small amount of olive oil for frying
1 medium onion, cut into big dice
2 medium carrots, cut into big dice
1 large stick celery, cut into big dice
1 small red pepper, cut into large dice
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 fresh chilli (optional), chopped
1 x 410g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp Herb de Provence
Half a bottle of red wine
Salt and Ground Black Pepper
Method
1) Heat the olive oil in a medium frying pan over a high heat.
2) Add the onion, carrots, celery and red pepper and sauté stirring continuously for 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium/low.
3) Add the garlic and chilli and continue stirring until all of the vegetables are translucent.
4) Add the chopped tomatoes, herbs and red wine and bring up to the boil  seasoning to taste with salt and black pepper.
5) Pour this sauce into a medium sized baking tin.
6) Arrange the turkey legs on top of the sauce and cover with more grindings of black pepper.
7) Cover the baking tin with foil and seal really well as you need to keep as much moisture in the tin as possible during cooking.
8) Place in a preheated oven at 175ºC for 1 hour 30 minutes. Checking after an hour to make sure there is enough liquid in the sauce. If not add some water.
9) When the time is up remove from the oven. Spoon some of the sauce onto 2 warm plates and place the turkey legs on top. Garnish with chopped fresh mint.  Serve the rest of the sauce separately. We ate this with creamy mashed potatoes and it was gorgeous.

Turkey breast is one of the most versatile and economical meats you can buy. Here is a really delicious and easy recipe that all of the family can enjoy. You can make this dish with chicken breast escalopes as well.
Serves 4 people
Ingredients
Olive oil for frying
Chopped coriander for garnish
500g turkey breast escalopes
For the Marinade
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 large clove garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
Method
1) Mix all of the marinade ingredients together well in a bowl.
2) Place the turkey escalopes onto a large plate and pour the marinade over.
3) Coat each escalope really well with the marinade on both sides.
4) Cover the plate with cling film and allow to stand for 2 hours.
5) In a large frying pan heat some more olive oil over a high heat. Once it is very hot add the turkey escalopes to the pan draining off the excess marinade before you add each one. Keep the excess marinade to one side.
6) Brown each side of the turkey breasts and then turn the heat down to continue cooking slowly for about 2 minutes on both sides.
7) Arrange the escalopes on a warm serving plate and keep warm.
8) Pour the left over marinade into the frying pan and bring up to the boil.
9) Pour it over the warm escalopes and sprinkle with coriander.
10) Serve immediately with your own choice of vegetables.
Yummy!!

Here is a delicious, low cost, and healthy supper for 4 people. Very quick and easy to prepare. Perfect for making the day before or freezing as the flavours develop and become much deeper. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
Olive Oil
2 large celery sticks and 1 large onion roughly chopped
1 Large Pork Fillet, trimmed and sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 1" pieces
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 or 2 fresh chillies (depending on how hot you like) finely sliced
1 pack of jamon serrano offcuts
1 chicken stock cube dissolved in half a litre of boiling water
1 teasp Cumin
1 teasp Cinnamon
1 teasp Turmeric
1 large courgette chopped into half inch cube
500g jar cooked chick peas
Salt and Black Pepper
Bunch of coriander, chopped
Bunch of mint, chopped


METHOD
1) Brown the onion and celery in some olive oil in a medium sized pan.
2) Add the pork and brown.
3) Add the garlic and chilli and saute for 2 minutes. Then stir in the powdered spices.
4) Add the stock and salt and black pepper to taste, stirring well.
5) Cover and simmer for half an hour stirring occasionally. Add a small amount of more water if it is going dry.
6) Add the chick peas and the courgette and cook for a last 15 minutes. Keep an eye on the liquid it needs to have the consistency it has in the photo...not too dry but not too wet. If it is too wet leave the pan open so that it reduces.
7) Take the pan off the heat and stir in the coriander and mint and taste for seasoning. Add more if necessary.
8) Leave to rest covered for 20 minutes before serving.
ENJOY!

Kaveh our client from last November brought another great group of Swedish guys on a golfing holiday to Marbella. Staying in Rio Real. We cooked for them for 3 nights....first a Barbecue, then a Paella and finally a Spanish Buffet. The food went down very well. Looking forward to cooking for them the next time they come out this October.

Jo (first pic lhs in black) celebrated her birthday in style and planned a whole weekend of events for her 27 friends ....most of them staying at the lovely Villa Siempre Domingo in Marbesa. On the Saturday we served mixed tapas from 2pm joined by our cheeky butler Marcus who served drinks. Entertained by Frankie B and James the Saxophonist and later a disco. At 6pm we served our famous Barbecue followed by Eton Mess and Chocolate Cheesecake. The whole day (and the whole weekend) was a great success and the girls were delighted with their food

Joanne and James and a big crowd of friends and relatives from Liverpool celebrated their 50th birthdays all together at Villa El Palacete in Benahavis. They tucked into tapas followed by our famous Barbecue and finished with a big chocolate Birthday Cake. There was even a vegan cake for some of the guests. A great night was had by all.