Ciao Café > Recipes

Advantages: delicious and easy and made by you
Disadvantages: the washing up!

WHY YOU SHOULD MAKE THESE: Bar the fact that they're spongey and delicious. I was standing at the school the other day when I heard one mum report that she doesn't bother baking cakes for the bake sales she runs down local supermarket buys cheap fairy cakes and decorates them herself. Other mums then chipped in and added 'oh yes, I do the same and take them mother in laws in my tupperware and she never knows the difference', then to my astonisment ...
...and take the glory. Ok am I missing something but where is the pleasure of taking the credit of cakes that are dry and in my opinion tasteless or am I just unclever for not doing as they do. So why should you make these. Because they are delicious, they take minutes once you are familiar with the recipe, it is a great basic recipe you can stem from and because you should have genuine pride. Call me old fashioned but I think every mum should try ... Read recipe

Advantages: Very healthy (Providing you don't use too much honey)
Disadvantages: Unless you don't like chicken or are veggie, none!

This is the first in my "Beat the takeaway" series. The Kebab suffers a poor reputation thanks to the doings of many a late night takeaway, however they can be an amazing wonderful piece of fantasticness like so! All measurements are approximate, cooking should be about numbers, it's about feeling and smelling your way the right mix! Ingredients: Marinade Light soy sauce Runny Honey Garlic Ketchup (Trust me) Paprika (See "Other Spices" below for ...
...Pitta Breads Salad of choice See "Dressing" below. Preperation: To prepare the marinade, place the marinade ingredients into a bowl and mix well until there is a nice viscous liquid. Add the chicken (Diced), cover and leave in the fridge for a as long as you wish. You can also add straight to the frying pan and have a lovely flavour. Fry the marinated chicken in olive oil until cooked. A nice trick is to heat the pan very hot to try and crisp the ... Read recipe

Advantages: Quick, easy, tasty!
Disadvantages: Gelatine Leaves can be hard to get hold of!

This was a recipe a friend gave me about a month ago - I have made it twice already as I was so impressed! Serves 4. Ingredients: 4 Gelatine Leaves (69p for pack of 6) 600ml sparkling Elderflower water (£2.10 for 750ml) 1 Papaya, seeds scooped out and cut into long slivers (£1) Method: 1. Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for approximately 15 minutes (or until very soft and gelatinous). 2. Heat 150ml of the Elderflower water until simmering. ...
...liquid, and whisk into the hot Elderflower water. 3. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cool and refrigerate overnight or until completely set. 4. Put the slivers of Papaya into serving bowls/glasses and spoon jelly in too. Add a dash of the remaining sparkling Elderflower water to finish. I would recommend this as the perfect end to any meal..especially if served with a lemon sorbet or simple vanilla ice cream. ... Read recipe

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

A quick and easy recipe...OK then, a cheese sandwich! Equipment â—� Chopping Board â—� Knife Ingredients â—� Cheese â—� Bread Instructions 1. Get two slices of bread and put them next to each other. 2. Put your chopping board in the area where you're going to cut the cheese with your knife. 3. Cut the cheese into slices with the knife. 4. Place them on either of the slices of bread. 5. Put the other slice of bread on top of the one with the cheese ...
...etc. I have given you a simple, quick and easy recipe, a cheese sandwich. Enjoy! Added Treat If you're having a party, these will go down well, but try to create a mix of sandwiches by making cheese sandwiches, ham sandwiches and tuna sandwiches. Enjoy! AlexanderBanks. ... Read recipe

Advantages: Easy and hard to mess up
Disadvantages: Bad for calorie counters

...biscuits and can't put two recipes in snacks (how do I do that?). I love this as a starter or as a lunch, it's really quick and easy to make, and most people seem to like it. Ingredients: -4 large tomatoes -4tbsp double cream -4 eggs -4 tbsp grated Parmesan (or hard Spanish cheese such as Manchego). - Salt and pepper Method: 1) Hollow out the tomatoes, then leave upside down on kitchen roll to drain (about 15 mins). Be careful not to put any holes ...
...of the tomatoes 3) Heat the oven to 180 centigrade/gas mark 4 4) Put the tomatoes in a dish ideally just big enough to take them all in one layer 5) Break on egg into each tomato, then fill up with 1 tbsp double cream and 1 tbsp cheese 6) Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the egg sets This is a really easy and pretty fool-proof recipe. At first I thought it would take ages and be a real pain to hollow out the tomatoes, but it's much quicker and easier ... Read recipe