Boozy Brownies

These Brownies have always been very popular amongst my friends, great for a party buffet style and also great for a dinner party served with some crème fraiche or even vanilla ice cream. Be aware that dependant on your oven, you may need to adjust the cooking time accordingly. I don't tend to worry about whether the butter used is salted or unsalted, salt has a natural tendency to bring out the natural flavouring in chocolate and I've made this recipe with both varieties and the outcome is not affected.

4 Eggs
150g Butter
300g Caster Sugar
1 tablespoon Golden Syrup
70g Plain Flour, sifted
80g Cocoa Powder, sifted
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
200g Dark Chocolate(Min 70% Cocoa), broken
50ml Southern Comfort

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. In a pan on a low heat (this must be low otherwise you will burn ingredients), melt chocolate, butter and golden syrup together. Once melted add sugar and southern comfort and gently mix until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth, remove from heat. In a bowl sift the flour, baking and cocoa powders together. Pour the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and loosely combine, then beat in eggs until you have a batter consistency. Pour into a brownie pan / sandwich tin, if you use a silicon one you will not need to grease! Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes (again as stated earlier adjust if necessary according to your oven). Allow to cool and cut into 16 squares.

Chicken Pilaf

A great quick one pot dish, measurements are approximate as I use the 'eyeball' method! You can replace the Chicken with Quorn pieces for a vegetarian version.

4 Chicken Breasts

Few lugs Olive Oil

1 tsp Paprika

1 tsp Garlic Granules

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp ground Black Pepper

1 small dried Chilli, crumbled

2 cloves Garlic, grated

300g Basmati Rice

1/2 can Kidney Beans

1 cup frozen sliced Mixed Peppers

1 cup Sweetcorn

Chicken / Vegetable stock, to cover

Salt, to season

Slice the breasts into small pieces and coat with all herbs and spices. Drizzle on oil and rub to combine, marinade overnight. In a skillet/ non stick pan, saute chicken mix and once coloured add grated garlic. Add beans, peppers and sweetcorn and cook for a few minutes. Tip in rice and add stock so it is just covering the ingredients. Cover with foil and replace lid, turn heat to lowest setting and steam until liquid absorbed (around 15/20 minutes). Do not be tempted to mix about as this will cause dish to go sticky!

Pretty simple but very flavourful. This should serve approximately 4 people.