Tofu salad with thai-style dressing.

This thai dressing is one of my favourite and makes ordinary salad very delicious! And it's healthy too.
Ingredients for a main course for 2 or a starter for 4.

Salad:
100g/4oz baby sweetcorn, halved
280-300g (one packet) firm tofu, cut into cubes
1 tbsp soy sauce
50g/about one medium sized iceberg lettuce, shredded
Half of green pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
1-2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 tbsp coriander leaves
2 tbsp pine nuts or roasted peanuts

Thai-style dressing:
1 garlic glove, finely chopped
Half of small red chilly pepper, deseeded and chopped
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp of brown sugar
1 tsb of molasses
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp cold pressed seed oil (hemp, flax, linseed)

1. Fry tofu pieces quickly in a little oil with soy sauce until it's just golden.

2. Equally distribute all salad ingredients between plates.

3. Place all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well. I really like Jamie Oliver's flavour shaker for this. Pour the dressing over the salad and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Leek and potato soup

This soup is delicious hot or cold. Serve it with natural yougurt and freshly ground black pepper. To serve 4 people you will need:

25g/1oz/1 tbsp butter
15ml/1 tbsp vegetable oil (I substitute vegetable oil with grapeseed oil)
1 small onion, chopped
3 leeks, sliced
2 medium floury potatoes, diced
about 600ml/1 pint vegetable stock
about 300ml milk
45ml/4 tbsp single cream
salt and pepper

1. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy-based pan and add the onoin, leek and potatoes. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes, untill the vegetables have softened.

2. Stir in the stock and milk. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, cover ad simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Allow soup to cool before processing it, than process in batches. Don't pour all of the soup in blender/food processor or you'll end up scrapping the contents off your sealing. Por the soup into a serving bowl, stir in tyhe cream and add pepper and salt if nessesary and enjoy!

4. If you want your soup cold, set it aside to cool, then chill in the fridge for about 3 hours. You may need to add some extra milk or cold vegtable stock as it will thicken slightly as it cools.

Rum and raisin ice cream

This is not particularly healthy, but at least it's homemade so you know exactly what's inside.

For 4 servings you will need:
150g/5oz/1 cup large raisins
60ml/4 tbsp dark rum
4 egg yolks
75g/ 3oz/6 tbsp light brown sugar
5ml/1 tsp cornflour
300ml full-fat milk
300ml whipping cream or thick double cream
wafers or cookies to serve (optional)

1. Soak raisins in rum for 3-4 hours

2. Meanwhile whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until it's thick and foamy. Heat the milk in heavy-based pan, but don't let it boil.

3. Whisk the milk into the eggs, then pour it back to pan. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard thickens. Leave to cool.

4. Whip the cream untill it's thick but still falls from a spoon and fold it into the cold custard. Transfer into the freezeproof container or plastic tub. Note: I've desided to use pyrex dish and I was struggling to mix the ice cream half-way through freezing, as it became too frozen. It might be better to use silicon or plastic container. Freeze for 4 hours, beating the ice cream once after 2 hours. Beat again after 4 hours.

5. Fold the soaked raisins intoi the soft ice cream, cover and freeze for another 2 hours. Serve with wafers or cookies.