This delicious dish is fabulous for dinner party catering and serves up to four people

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

4 rashers of streaky bacon cut into small squares

1 small onion

2 garlic cloves

2 sticks of celery chopped

2oz of spaghetti broken into small pieces

14oz of brown lentils, drained

2 pints of vegetable stock

2 teaspoons of fresh mint

Method:

1. Place the bacon in a large frying pan together with garlic, onion and celery.
2. Fry for five minutes until the onions are browned and tender.
3. Add the pasta pieces to the pan and cook stirring for about 1 minute.
4. Add the lentils and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the pasta is tender.
5. Remove the pan from the heat.
6. Chop and stir in the mint.
7. Serve immediately.

    

At London Caterers we find that this is a popular all round dish as it is delicious hot or cold.

Preparation Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

2 of each red, yellow and orange peppers

4 tomatoes halved

1 table spoon of olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 onion sliced into rings

2 table spoon of fresh thyme

Method:

1. Halve and deseed the bell peppers.
2. Place them cut side down on a baking tray.
3. Place under a pre-heated grill for 10 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes to the baking tray and cook for a further five minutes.
5. Put the bell peppers into a polythene bag and allow them to sweat which will allow you to remove the skin easier.
6. Remove the tomato skins and roughly chop.
7. Slice the bell peppers into strips.
8. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry the garlic for the 3-4 minutes.
9. Add the bell peppers and cook for a further five minutes.
10. Add the fresh thyme and season with salt and pepper.
11. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve either warm or cold.

A classic side dish for all West Indian Cuisines and this is great for Caribbean catering. The key to this dish is to double the amount of water versus the amount of rice you cook. Many cooks prefer the taste of American Long grain rice. But most white will work in this dish apart from sticky rice.

Be sure to sure tinned kidney beans otherwise you’ll need to cook the beans for hours before they are ready otherwise you could find that your guess may have a runny tummy.

Preparation Time: 5mins

Cooking Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Rice

1 Cooked tin of Red Kidney Beans

1 Tea Spoon of Coconut Cream

1 Pinch of Thyme

Method:

Drain The Kindkey beans and place into the sauce pan.

Add 4 cups of water to the sauce pan and boil for 10 mins.

Add the thyme and the coconut cream.

Add the rtwo cups of white long grain rice.

Reduce the heat, cover and allow to simmer for a further 30mins

Perfect salad dish for the summer months

Preparation Time: 20mins

Cooking Time: None

Ingredients

• 3oz Wholewheat Spagheti rings
  
• 2 Medium Bananas
  
• 2oz of Dates
  
• 2oz Of Brazil Nuts
  
• 4oz Cottage Cheese
  
• 1 Tablespoon of honey
  
• 1 Large crisp lettuce
  

Method:

1. Cook the spaghetti rings in boiling water; drain then rinse in cold water
   
2. In a bowl combine the chopped bananas, dates and nuts with the spaghetti rings
   
3. Arrange the washed lettuce on a dish and pile the pasta and fruit mixture into the center.
   

Summer is here and what better way to celebrate this, than to have a BBQ. Every once loves burgers but forget getting the Tesco and Adsa burgers; why not make your own! Takes less than 10mins to make and you will look like the perfect caterer or party host.

1. Selecting good meat is the first and most crucial step; selecting a lean mince, really isn’t the way forward. By the nature of the cooking method the meat will be lean any way. With Lean mince the burger will be dry and tasteless
2. Use a nice sirloin, ground this up and add a little salt.
3. Use damp hands when handling the beef, a squeeze into medium size patties
4. Once you’ve made these into patties, leave them in the fridge for 2 hours to allow them to firm up
5. Make the patty at a maximum of 1 inch thick
6. When grilling, grill for 3 minutes per side to initially seal the burger
7. Never squeeze the patty with a spatula, this will get rid of the lovely fat and juices.
8. If you have a frying pan to hand place this ontop while cooking, this will help cook the beef in the middle quicker.

Easy, refreshing salad to help keep you and your family healthy. Great for individual serving and is perfect for dinner parties. This will serve 2 people, but is very easy to increase quantaties.

Preparation Time: 5mins
Cooking Time: None
Ingredients:

• 2 Large Oranges
• 1 Table Spool of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Handful of watercress
• Handful of Salad Leaves
• Handful of Rocket

Method:

• Slice the top and bottom from the oranges
• Using a small knife, cut and peel the oranges
• Hold each orange over a large bowl and catch the juices.
• Cut down both sides of the orange to release it
• Squeeze the remaining sections into the bowl ensuring you extract all juices
• Measure the juice and for each 3 table spools and 1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil.
• Add some salt and a tiny bit of pepper
• Add a handful of watercress in the bowl
• Add some salad leaves and rocket
• Pour over the orange dressing and toss so all leaves are coated.

Salad doesn’t have to be boring and tasteless with these ingredients you can have a wonderful coloured salad and slightly chewy with the add beans. This is great for garden parties and bbq’s, this can be preparated in advance for your guess and is prefect for catering.

Preparation Time: 10mins

Cooking Time: None

Ingredients:

• 50ml of  Balsamic Viniger
• Tea spoon of salts
• Half a head of Radicchio- This has beautiful colour
• Half a head of the Romen
• Sun dried Tomatoes
• Cannellini Beans

Method:

Add the salt to the vinegar and whisk.

Cut into both Radicchio & Romen into medium size pieces and toss with hands into a large bowl

Add a handful of sun dried tomatoes with a little juice

Drain and sieve a tin of white Cannellini beans, this will add a nice chewy creamy component to the salad. Add to the salad and toss

Whisk the dressing pour over and toss once again and serve.