Dear Amy

Last night my friend Amy and I cooked up a storm - was probably some of the tastiest food that has come from my kitchen. It might have been that we actually cooked it ourselves rather than eating out, or that we'd started drinking the left-over wine from the wine and cheese party I had the other night, but despite these potential confounding factors, there is no denying the food was tasty.

So I thought I would share what we ate and how we made it, not only for posterity, but to make you drool and wish you could have me cook you dinner.

Baked Stuffed Chicken
Take your chicken breast and cut a pocket into the thickest part of the breast. Stuff with cheese - we used wensleydale with cranberry cheese (note: you could stuff with other things, like sundried tomatoes or pesto, just make sure it's something that has a decent moisture content). Place the chicken into an oven dish slit side down and drizzle with some oil (we crusted our chicken with mixed nuts also), cover the dish with foil and bake in oven for at least 25 mins until there is no pink bits in the chicken.

Baked Nut-Crusted Brie
Take a wheel of brie, dunk it in a whisked egg and then cover with crushed nuts (we used a mix of hazelnuts, brazil nuts, macadamias and cashews along with some craisins), pressing in hard. Place into ramekin and bake in oven for 15-20 mins (although next time I'm thinking of placing it in foil rather than a ramekin).

Roasted Baby Romas
Take a packet of baby romas (can use cherry tomatoes also), place in oven dish with salt, pepper, oil, crushed garlic and rosemary and bake for 15 mins.

Apple and Strawberry Crumble with Nutty Dark Choc Topping
Wash and chop your apples and strawberries into small chunks, place into baking dish and sprinkle some brown sugar on top. In a bowl add crushed nuts (we used the same mix as before), some plain flour, dessicated coconut, smashed dark choc bits, a dash of salt and some brown sugar. Melt some butter and pour into the dry ingredients, mixing into a crumbly consistency. Place mixture ontop of fruit. Cover dish with foil and place into oven until fruit is soft, then take off foil and bake for a further 10 minutes to get a nice crunchy top.

So Amy (and everyone else), I can't wait to hear about your kitchen adventures. The tip is to not be afraid to fail, because a lot of times you will.

Disclaimers: the temperature of the oven was 180C for all the food. Measuring was not performed at any stage. We used free-range chicken and drank white wine which matched well with everything.