Fancy Mushrooms with Oak Smoked Garlic

This is a fast, simple recipe, which proves that with good quality ingredients little fussing is required*.

I picked up a load of mushrooms on a recent trip to Borough Market. There were loads of types, and I don't know most but they included ceps, autumn chanterelles, horn of plenty and oysters. They cost a forearm and an ankle (really must sign up to that foraging course next year...) and were supposed to be served for breakfast the next day. But a late night and a hangover made a bacon and egg sarnie the only breakfast option!

Later that day, once the hangover abated, I managed to sort myself out enough to prepare this simple supper: mushrooms with oak smoked garlic, served on bulgar wheat with a dash of lemon and a tickle of thyme.

Fancy Mushrooms with Oak Smoked Garlic

Serves 2

• Various mushrooms, cleaned
• 1 clove smoked garlic, crushed
• 1 cup bulgar wheat
• Vegetable stock
• Half a lemon
• Half tsp fresh thyme leaves
  
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the bulgar wheat and thyme in a bowl and cover with vegetable stock. Cover bowl and leave for 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Fluff with a fork, add a good squeeze of lemon juice, adjust seasoning and fluff again.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add the mushrooms. Fry gently for 5 minutes until cooked through, adding the garlic and any seasoning for the last couple of minutes of cooking.

Place the bulgar wheat in a bowl, and top with the mushrooms. A garnish of lemon and you're set to go...




* I like fussing. And I like lots of flavours! I'm saying is it isn't necessary.It's kind of like that new pair of toweringly high shoes. Not required... but very, very nice!

Besan Fried Aubergine with Lentil Pilaf

Right, so the kitchen is unpacked, and the living room is clear of boxes. I've no idea where anything is, but at least have managed to find my bed every night, which is always a good thing! Saying that, my bedroom looks like it has been hit by a girl bomb*, but let's just ignore that for now. All in all, I'm getting settled - and hopefully normal blogging services will be resumed shortly!

The dish I'm serving up to you today is a feat of kitchen clearing. I prepared it in my last week at the flat, and was chuffed about using up lots of bits and pieces to actually make a fairly cohesive whole. Not only that - it was quick to make, ridiculously cheap, and damned tasty with it! My quantities are pretty rough - the end of a pack of basmati, finish off a couple packs of lentils, some bits of veg from the back of the fridge, a couple of almost empty jars of sambal...

Besan Fried Aubergine with Lentil Pilaf

Serves 4

• 1 cup red lentils, washed
• 1.5 cup basmati rice
• 0.5 cup broad beans (from the freezer!)
• Half a broccoli, florets
  
• 400g tin tomatoes
• 1 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
  
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
• good pinch saffron
• Vegetable bouillon
• Salt to taste
• ghee to fry

Heat ghee in a heavy-based saucepan and add mustard and fennel seeds. When mustard seeds start to pop, add the garlic and ginger, then the fenugreek, lentils and basmati rice. Stir for 3/4 minutes, then add the rest of the spices, and salt as required.

Add the tin of tomatoes, and top up with hot bouillon to about an inch over the level. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 or 6 minutes.

Chuck in the broccoli florets and broad beans and add more bouillon if required. Continue cooking until rice and lentils are done, checking to make sure it doesn't get too dry, adding more bouillon as necessary.

Besan-Fried Aubergine

• 1 cup gram flour
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• water to mix
• 1 aubergine (eggplant!)
• ghee to fry

Mix together the first six ingredients, then mix in just enough water to make a thick batter.

Cut the aubergine into slices about 1cm thick, and coat them in the batter.

Heat the ghee in a frying pan to a medium to hot heat. Cook the aubergine for a minute or two on each side, until golden and crispy - but don't overcook!

Serve the lentil pilaf with slices of fried aubergine on top, and a couple dabs of sambal if you're in the mood for a bit more heat!

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* clothes, shoes**, make up, more boxes and some random utterly unnecessary objects... A small stuffed bagpuss mouse that sings "We will fix it". Except the battery is all but dead, so all it actually does is an aphonic "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.......". Then snuffles a little before returning to its glass-eyed voiceless state.

** did I mention I halved my shoe collection before I moved? I threw out 42 pairs... :-S

Scottish Scran 6 - Lentil and Ham Hock Soup

Hello!

I'm back! Kittie is officially now in a different kitchen... and just about recovered from the trauma of moving...

What a week. In the space of seven days...

• I've packed up my wee flat and moved into a proper house!
• I've left the cats with their new owner - happy to report things seem to be going well so far!
• Three of my good friends have left the country - two to South America, and one to Turkey... have a wonderful time guys, missing you already.
• My work contract has come to an end - back to the bench for me...
  
• My best friend has booked her tickets for a six month traveling expedition - exciting!!
  
• ... and last, but by no means least, one of my best friends has just got married - congratulations, M&M!

So. After all the upheaval, bustle and rush, there is nothing like a huge steaming bowl of broth to sooth and comfort; make the world all seem just a little bit more normal. A soup that's seen me through sore throats and winter days, a student staple and a Christmas treat...

Lentil and Ham Hock Soup

Serves 10-12, depending on the bowl!

• 1 ham hock, preferably smoked
• 2 large onions, roughly chopped
  
• 3 medium carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, for the stock
• 1 celery for the stock
• 2 cloves garlic (optional) Left whole, but bashed a bit
  
• 2 cups red lentils, washed
• 3 sticks celery, roughly chopped
  
• 6 black pepper corns
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 clove
• butter to fry
  
• salt to taste

Prepare the Stock...
Place the hock in a large soup pot. Add one onion, one carrot, one stick of celery and the garlic (if using). Add the bay leaves, peppercorns and clove, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for an hour and a half.

Strain the stock, reserving the hock, and discard the veg and spice.

Prepare the Base...

Heat some butter in your soup pot, then add the rest of the onion, celery and carrot. Fry until softened slightly, then pour in the stock. Stir in the lentils and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the lentils are cooked through. Check seasoning after about 10 minutes and adjust as required.

While the lentils are cooking, remove as much meat as you can from the hock, and chop into bite-sized pieces.

Finish the Soup...

Once the lentils are fully cooked, remove the soup from the heat and blitz to desired consistency. Add the hock meat pieces into the soup.

Serve!
Serve your lentil broth with crusty bread, a grind of black pepper and a sigh of relief.

Scottish Word of the Day!

Puggled - knackered, tired,

Ah'm fair puggled efter moving' yisturday - ah wiz desperate fur mah scratcher by the time ah got in mah new hoose!

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This is also my entry for the amazing World Food Day event being hosted by Ivy and Val!

World Food Day is an event to raise awareness of the problem of hunger in the world and to bring to our attention what we can do about it personally. It is a day to encourage us and our governments to be well informed on the issues and to have a plan of action!!!

The event requires participants to make dishes that will feed at least 6 people...

We could then lay each dish back to back and have enough food to feed everyone on our street. If more people joined we could feed everyone in our city...our country...the world...you get the picture!!! A conga line of international dishes to feed the world!!!!

Spicy Marinated Salmon with Raw Bean Salad

Guess what???

I'm moving house soon, having finally managed to lease my place out! I'm happy in some ways, but sad in others - I've had many good times in my wee flat and am sorry to leave it. Even worse, I will no longer be Kittens in the Kitchen... as the cats can't come with me to my new place.* So I guess I'll just need to be Kittie in a Different Kitchen...

But on the positive side, I'm moving for a very good reason (which I'll tell you all about very soon) - and now that I'm moving out, I know that my plans are actually starting to come together!

Anyway, less of the cryptic ramblings and onto the food!

I have about 3 weeks left in my flat - which means three weeks to run down the store cupboard and freezer - I won't be able to take much with me. So I think it is time for another Store Cupboard Challenge! It is something I had been thinking about doing anyway, and seems to be a bit of a theme in the food blogosphere at the minute, what with Judy's clean out, and Heather's purge...

I quite like raiding the pantry and freezer - it makes me feel like I'm on an extended episode of Ready, Steady, Cook! So I started off with this dish - using up some beans and tomatoes from the fridge, 2 almost empty packs of cous cous from the cupboard, and a couple fillets of salmon that I got for a end of day bargain price of £1.20!

The beans and tomatoes are deliberately all but raw. If you don't fancy raw beans feel free to give them a bit of a steam before adding them - I really fancied the crunch factor of keeping them raw though.

Try eating it hot from the pan - or cold the next day for lunch!

Spicy Marinated Salmon with Raw Bean Cous Cous

I haven't really put specific quantities - add more or less cous cous to pad it out - or more veg to up the health factor!

• 150g salmon fillet
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp hot sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 clove crushed garlic
• 12 grated ginger
• cous cous
• stock
• 3 large tomatoes, diced
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Various beans, I used dwarf and sugar snap, cut into bitesize pieces!

Prepare the Salmon...
Chop the salmon into bite size pieces and place in a bowl. Mix together the sesame oil, hot sauce, soy sauce, lime juice and honey and pour over the salmon. Mix well, cover and refridgerate for an hour or two.

Prepare the Cous Cous...
Toast the cous cous for a couple of minutes in a dry pan, until it turns golden. Remove into a bowl and drizzle over about a tablespoonful of olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Remember the stock is saltly too, don't over season! Use your fingers to mix the olive oil into the cous cous - get it all covered and make sure there are no lumps! Add hot stock onto the cous cous, until it is just covered. Cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes.

This won't actually cook the cous cous thoroughly - we're going to add more stock in a bit if we need to. I find doing it this way helps make it fluffy - not soggy!

After the 10 minutes are up, fluff the cous cous well and add the tomatoes and beans.

Cook...
Heat some olive oil in a hot wok. Drain off the excess marinade from the salmon and add the fish to the pan. Cook quickly over a hot heat so the outside gets a bit of a crust, leaving the inside not quite cooked. Don't worry if some of the chunks break up, it's all part of the charm!

Remove the salmon to a bowl.

In the same wok heat a spot more oil add the ginger and garlic and cook out for a couple of minute. Throw in the cous cous mix and fry for a couple of minutes, letting the cous cous pick up all the flavours from the salmon. If the cous cous is still al dente, add a bit more stock (remember the tomatoes will release some juices which will continue to soften the cous cous!)

Return the salmon to the wok and combine with the cous cous.



Serve with a smug grin safe in the knowledge that this is delicious and good for you! And maybe a glass of crisp white wine - it is Friday after all!



Left over tip!
I had some leftovers, so mixed them up with a bit of whisked egg to form a pliable mixture. Formed it into a couple of patties and rolled in panko before doing a shallow fry. I forgot to take pictures - so you'll have to take my word for it, but these were fab!!! Which I ended up having for breakfast the next day as I was out of bread!



* Don't worry, they are being looked after by a friend of mine until I'm in a position to get them back...

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This recipe is all mine, so I'm sending it over to Lore's Original Recipes event.

I had to double check, but cous cous is a pasta - so it's one for Presto Pasta Night - this week being hosted by Psychgrad and Giz over at Equal Opportunity Kitchen!

Because I got the salmon so cheaply, this worked out to be a very cheap dinner - costing about £2.70 for 2 large portions, plus leftovers! Scale it up to 4 and we're still under £5, so this is my submission to this week's Frugal Friday!

Nice n' Spicy, Easy Peasy, Leftovers Curry!

I was looking for a space in my bulging freezer the other day when I found a container of dark roast turkey meat - left over from Christmas!!

I had been planning on getting a take out curry that night - but figured with the meat cooked, I could knock one up in the time it would take to deliver. With the added bonus that I could make it exactly how I wanted it and keep it as healthy as possible!

It turned out really really good. The addition of tamarind and fenugreek added a special edge to the other spices. And because the meat was already roasted, it soaked up the gravy and took on a lot of flavour. Best of all - it was ready in 20 minutes!

So here we have it, my nice n' spicy, super-speedy, easy-peasy leftover curry!

Leftover Roast Dinner Curry

Ok, so maybe not the prettiest picture in the world - but it tasted goooooood. And isn't that the important thing?? ;)

• 1 tsp fenugreek leaves
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 3 dried red chillies, roughly torn up
  
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" piece ginger, finely grated
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste, mixed with 300 ml water
• left over roast turkey or chicken
• ghee or oil to fry
• salt to taste

Heat ghee in a heavy-based saucepan

Add all the seeds and the dried chillies and fry for a minute or two until they smell really good! Add the onion, garlic, ginger and fry for another couple of minutes.

Chuck in the other spices, tomatoes, tamarind water and salt and mix well. Put in the meat and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If it starts to reduce too much, cover until ready (or add more water ;)

Serve with rice and a smile!

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Not only is this an original recipe - but it's an original recipe conceived in about 3 minutes! So I reckon it fits the bill for Lore's Original Recipes event!

Check out the last round up, great stuff Lore!

More noodley goodness: Orange & Ginger Soba Noodles

I found this recipe a while back, on my first visit to the beautiful vegetarian Indian food blog, Saffron Trail. And despite never having tasted it, I got a real craving for it a couple of days ago!

It's basically a noodle dish with a nice bit of steamed veg... and a gorgeous orangey, gingery, peanut butter dressing! Yum. I mixed the dressing up, and I could have probably eaten the lot of it with a spoon! (Peanut butter soup!!) I think this dressing would go amazingly well as a dipping sauce for chicken too.

While the original recipe calls for smooth peanut butter, I only had crunchy at home. While I probably will try it with smooth when I get a chance, I really liked the extra texture that the crunchy peanut butter added.

This is a great dish, quick and relatively healthy. I made up a batch in the evening and had it for dinner, then took the leftovers to work the next day. You must do this!!! It was even better on day 2!

Anyway, happy Friday everyone! Long weekend for me due to a public holiday... to celebrate I'm heading up to Notting Hill Carnival! Cross your fingers for some sun!

Orange & Ginger Soba Noodles

Serves 4...

• 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• Juice and zest of one orange
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 250g soba noodles
• 6 Runner beans, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 3 carrots, ribboned

Prepare the Dressing...
Whisk together all the ingredients except the noodles and veg - taste and adjust seasoning or acidity - I added a dash more orange juice and another dash of soy. Set aside.

Prepare the Noodles...
Cook noodles according to packet - probably 5/6 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare the Veg...
We want these to be super lightly steamed - the crunch of the carrot ribbons go so well with the silky noodles! So maybe 3 minutes for the beans, and just a couple of minutes for the carrots.

Chuck it All Together!
If you want to eat this warm, heat the noodles by pouring boiling water over them. Mix together the veg and noodles; give the dressing a last whisk, then pour it over the top.

Mix through so that all the noodles are coated in the dressing.

If you fancy a faff, decorate with some raw carrot ribbons and orange segments. Or not!

Either way, tuck in, slurp it up, and wonder why you've never tasted gingery orange peanut butter before... Enjoy!

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Another Friday trio!

This week I'm going to send this over to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Night! Though I think I'm early - at time of writing the last round up hadn't even been posted!

Its near the end of the month, so a cheap dinner is even more appreciated than usual. And that's why I'm going to send this to Frugal Fridays! Even taking into account that I used posh organic soba... this would feed 4 for about £4 - or ~ $8!

And finally, this is my second submission to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes event. Check out the round up on Monday!

Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

This dish is based on one I had at a work BBQ a few weeks ago. Made by a lovely Thai woman and served cold as a salad, it was my favourite food of the day! I have tried to recreate it here - but I think I am still missing something... if I see her again, I'll be sure to get a full recipe!

Don't get me wrong, it was still really tasty... it just wasn't exactly the same. And I can't figure out quite what I need to change... But I'm sure I'll have fun trying to work it out!

Advance notice - I'll be getting Scottish Scran 3 out to you any day now... I'll give you a clue... it's a trooty affair!

Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

Prepare the Dressing...

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp maggi sauce (or dark soy if you can't get maggi!)
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• Soy sauce to taste
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients together and whisk well to combine. Set aside in the fridge until the other ingredients are ready... but make sure you whisk again before using!

And the Rest...!

• 300g bean vermicelli
• 150g raw shrimp, peeled, cleaned and butterflied
• 300g ground pork
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 small handful peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 3 spring onions (scallions!), finely shredded
• Handful cilantro, roughly chopped
  

Prepare the Noodles...
Boil some water on the stove. Cook the noodles in the water for 4 minutes, or according to the packet - do not overcook or they will fall to pieces later!

Once cooked, run them under cold water to stop them cooking any more and set aside.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a little oil in the bottom of your wok until it is very hot. Crumble in the pork, then stir fry for three to four minutes. Keep it moving!

Add in the ginger, garlic, sesame oil, fish sauce and dried chilli.

Once the pork is cooked add in the shrimp and continue to stir fry until the shrimp are cooked.

Serve!
Take the dressing out of the fridge and give it a wee taste. Does it need anything (a touch more chilli, sugar or salt perhaps? Or maybe it's perfect as it is!)

Place the noodles in a big bowl and pour over half of the dressing (you did remember to give it another stir right?) Use chopsticks (or a pasta server!) to give it a good mix.

Chuck the peanuts, cilantro, scallions, pork mix and the rest of the dressing on top and combine well.

Mmmmm... gotta love that porky noodle goodness!!!

Sending this over to Kitchenetta of Got No Milk who is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night!

Spicy Trout... Waste Not, Want More!

The wine was poured, the curry was almost ready and the rice resting, when I spotted a pack of trout fillets in my fridge. I had bought them for the bargain price of £1 earlier that day - but had totally forgotten them!

After initially cursing myself at the waste - I decided to give myself 10 minutes to turn them into something to go with dinner. (After all, they had to be used that day and couldn't be frozen - I'd be as well trying!)

I remembered I had a courgette* left in the bottom of the fridge from the week before... would it be a pile of mush in the bottom of the veggie bag? Huzzah, it was as green and crisp as the day I bought it.

So... I chopped the trout into bite sized pieces, then tossed them in a mix of garam masala and chilli powder - rubbing it in a bit for maximum flavour. I put them to one side while the courgette was effectively (if not neatly) chopped into similarly sized chunks.

I heated a wee bit of ghee (or it may have been olive oil) in a heavy frying pan and threw in the courgette along with a good pinch of fenugreek leaves. After frying for a couple of minutes, a dollop of ginger/garlic paste followed it in (see I knew there was a reason I kept a jar of that stuff!)

Another minute passed then the trout went in. I fried them all together until the trout was just about cooked, then seasoned with salt and squeezed over the juice of half a lemon.

And y'know something - it was absolutely delicious! I think with a wee dod of yogurt, and this will be on my mid-week menu for some time to come!

Spicy Trout with Lemony Courgette

Less than 10 minutes from finding the trout - howzzat?!?

(edit) * courgette = zucchini! What? I am British, y'know ;)

T&T: What's For Lunch, Honey? Zucchine and Lemon Spaghetti, that's what!

As you may have guessed from the title, this is my contribution to the monthly Tried and Tested event from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen. The event showcases a different blog every month, and invites participants to create and blog one or more dishes from that blog.

The first time I took part was for Tastes Like Home - a blog that was new to me (though very familiar now!). This time, the nominated blog is What's for Lunch, Honey? - one of the very first blogs I ever subscribed to!

It was so hard to choose what to make - in the end I narrowed it down to gnocchi with garlic sage butter (I have tried to make gnocchi several times... but consistently failed. They either come out as bullets... or weird clouds of soggy mashed potato... nice!!) or veal vilanese - a kind of veal schnitzel with parmesan, yum!

But I had only tonight left to make and blog my dish - and after spending all last night madly preparing for the Royal Foodie Joust, I really need a more relaxed dinner tonight! Which - after my problematic previous endeavours - puts gnocchi out of the picture! And then I couldn't get a hold of veal!

In the end, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise... I went back to the archives and found this gorgeous summer pasta dish...

Spaghetti with Courgettes (Zucchini!) and Lemon!

Courgettes are plentiful right now, and I had lemons in the fridge! I followed the recipe almost exactly as written - though I used half green and half yellow courgette. and my sage in my herb garden has gone!!! I have no idea where. Come to think of it, I haven't seen it for a while - I think it might have been swamped by the rosemary and oregano! So instead, I substituted greek oregano - which I think worked very nicely. I will be making this again - and I'll replant my sage first!

Find Meeta's orginal recipe here! Thanks for a great recipe Meeta!

TT&T2 - Catalan Fish Stew with Spelt Bread

Health concious? Me??

Well I do try... it's just the weekends that cause problems!!

Regular readers will hopefully know that most of my recipes are pretty healthy - I love my spice and don't eat too much dairy or red meat. I do obviously have the occasion exception to the rule... especially when I discovered deep fat frying... but on the whole I love making dishes that taste good without being full of 'rubbish'.

So Tried, Tested and True 2 - an event conceived by Psychgrad and Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen - is right up my alley. This is their second event - check out the round up from the first one - what a fab collection of recipes!

This time however, there is a difference. Our tried and tested recipes have to promote health - be it low cal, low fat, high nutrient, whatever. They want don't just want dishes that work - they have to work for you too!

I decided to make a dish I have made a few times before - Catalan fish stew. It is a great dinner party dish as the bulk of the work can be done in advance. It is based jointly on a dish I had whilst in Barcelona and a Catalan fish stew I saw on MasterChef a year or two later - white fish, fried in olive oil, topped with a tomato, pinto beans and chorizo sauce. Flavoured with both fresh and ground fennel and thickened with ground almonds, this is a super tasty dinner - despite being healthy!!!

Right... so... you want to know what makes this so healthy?

Tomato Based Sauce!

Tomatoes are the best food source of uber-protective antioxidant nutrient, lycopene - which has amazing cancer and heart disease prevention properties.

Check this out - men who eat tomatoes twice a week are on average 35% less likely to get prostate cancer. Tomatoes also help protect against breast, pancreatic and intestinal cancers.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K (for bone health) and are a very good source of fibre and calcium too.

And... cooking tomatoes actually improves their health benefits as it concentrates the phytonutrients.

Pinto Beans!

Eating pinto beans will lower your cholesterol levels due to their high fibre content. They are also an excellent source of protein and vitamin B1

If you suffer from unstable blood-sugar levels (like me!), eating pinto beans will level out the highs and lows - with slow release energy thrown in to boot!

Pinto beans high levels of phosphorus, iron, magnesium, potassium, and copper lowers heart attack risk, heart disease risk and blood pressure.

Almonds!

Hmmm... Almonds? Really?? But they're sooo fatty...

Ah HAH - but they're the good type of fat! Y'know the type of fat that makes us lose weight, reduces the risk of heart disease and lowers cholesterol... monounsaturated fat!

Eating almonds can significantly reduce the GI level of what you're eating too, and contain more protein by weight than an egg!

Cod!

As well as tasting fab, cod is an amazing low-calorie source of protein - rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Though it really doesn't sound good - food rich in omega-3 fatty acids can help control blood pressure, protect against cancer and can even protect against Alzheimer's and Age-related Cognitive Decline.

Spelt!

What previously may have made this dish less healthy was that I generally serve it with huge hunks of chewy white bread... So in the spirit of the event I decided to make my own spelt bread to eat with the stew.

Spelt is higher in complex carbs that wheat - as well as containing way more fibre and protein. Many people also find they can tolerate it more easily than wheat - though it is still not gluten-free.

The bread had a lovely deep nutty flavour, and was very quick and easy to make - recipe at the bottom!

Low in Fat...

Ok, ok, so the fish is fried...

But it is in healthy olive oil... and get this: the phytonutrients in tomatoes will be far better absorbed when eaten with a little oil. So you see, I was thinking about you all the time!

So, now I've dispensed with my healthful rhetoric... let's get back to the dish, I hereby present you with my incredibly healthy, incredibly tasty...

Catalan Fish Stew

Served 7 hungry people!

• 1500g cod fillet - skinned (any firm white fish will do!)
  
• 500g huss fillet - skinned (again, any firm white fish will do!)
• 500g mussels, prawns and/or squid cooked and peeled if required
  
• 200g chorizo, diced
• 1 tin pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 4 large tomatoes, diced
  
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 fennel bulb, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, ground
• 2 tbsp paprika
  
• 1 tbsp oregano (fresh only, don't use dried)
  
• 1/2 tsp saffron strands
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup water
• A large glass of white wine (I don't measure wine in cups ;)
  
• 1 cup ground almonds
  
• olive oil for frying
• 3/4 cup white flour for dredging the fish
  
• salt to taste
  

Prepare the Sauce...
As I was cooking this for a mid-week dinner I decided to prepare the sauce in advance to give myself as little to do as possible the next day.

Heat the olive oil on a medium heat, and fry the onions, chorizo and garlic for 4/5 minutes. Add the ground fennel, oregano, 1 tbsp of paprika, the bay leaves and tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the water and white wine, allow to cool and refrigerate until required. Or you could leave it to simmer away whilst you fry up the fish if you're doing it all on the same day! (Which is probably more likely ;)

Fry the Fish...
(If you did prepare the sauce the night before then bring it to a simmer now!)

Chop the fish into large pieces. Mix the flour with a tablespoon of paprika and season with salt.

Dredge the fish in the flour mixture - patting off as much excess as possible.

Heat olive oil to a medium heat and fry the fish for a couple of minutes on either side - or until just cooked through - this will depend on how thick your fish is!

Set aside.

Put it Together...
Add the pinto beans to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add the almonds, mussels, squid and prawns and cook for two minutes further.

Divide up the fried fish between the plates and spoon over the seafood sauce.

Serve with hunks of bread for mopping up the juices... for instance, my

Single Rise Spelt Bread!

Makes 2 2lb loaves

• 
  

• 6 cups wholemeal Spelt flour
• 2 cups hand-warm water
• 1 tbsp dried yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle

Activate the Yeast...
Dissolve the honey and yeast with one cup of the warm water. Cover and leave for 10 minutes until it starts to foam.

If it hasn't started to foam after this time, try again - the water may have been too hot or too cold. If this doesn't fix it may well be that your yeast is too old and needs to be replaced.

Prepare the Dough...
Add one cup of flour to the dough and mix well, then add the salt and the flour, cup by cup until it is all incorporated.

Turn out the dough and knead for 3 minutes - do not overwork the dough. The dough should be soft but not sticky.

Lightly grease 2 2lf loaf tins*. Divide the mixture in two, shape into loaf sausages and place in the tins. Cover in oiled clingfilm and put in a warm place to rise until doubled.

Spelt can be really fast rising - so start checking after about 45 minutes. In my case it took over an hour though.

Bake!
Preheat oven to 180c.
Lightly brush the tops of the loaves with milk and sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds.

Pop in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Smells good? We're almost there!

Remove from the tin and put back in the oven for 5 minutes to crisp.

Place on a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before eating.

As well as an accompaniment to the fish stew - this made the most amazing sandwich bread - full of flavour!





* This is what I would have done if I'd had two loaf tins... I only had one - so I wrapped half of the dough in greased film and refrigerated it whilst the first loaf was rising - then let the second rise while the first was baking!)

Quick and Easy Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

I absolutely love making soup - and recently especially so if it contains noodles, seafood and chillies... it's more of a pasta dish than a soup really. Yet I get to feel smug that I've only had soup for dinner!

The soup below takes about 15 minutes to prepare if you have all the ingredients prepared - perfect for a healthy mid week dinner.

Its been a while since I've taken part (or at least it feels like it!) so I'm sending this over to Presto Pasta Night - hosted by the lovely Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

Serves 2 big bowls, or four as a starter!

• 1" piece grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tom yum paste - eek, I cheated! You could probably use whatever paste you wanted here - or even none at all, it still has a load of flavour!
• 1 pt chicken stock
• 1 pack udon noodles
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 handfuls raw shrimp (apologies for vague quantities - I pulled them out of my box of frozen shrimp in the freezer... doesn't matter anyway - add as much or as little as you fancy! Oh, and I add mine from frozen :)
• 1 handful shelled edamame beans (see above!)
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced into large bits
• 1 small tin of coconut milk
• A couple of drop of roasted sesame oil (if you have it... gives a lovely deep flavour)
• Light soy sauce, to taste
• Lime juice, to taste
• shredded scallions, sliced thai chillies and cilantro to garnish!

Par-boil the Noodles...
I reckon this gets rid of the starchiness and gives a cleaner soup - but I haven't done a side to side comparison with the same brand of udon, so could possibly be talking out of my proverbial!
Put the noodles into a pot of boiling water and simmer for one minute - until they have just lost their brittleness. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a glug of nut oil in your hot wok and add the ginger, garlic and paste if you're using it and fry for up to a minute, until sizzling! Add the chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

Bringing it all Together...
This bit depends a bit on the cooking time of the udon noodles, and what state the shrimp are in. My shrimp were large and frozen - so I gave them 8 minutes. The udon noodle pack recommended 7-8 minutes, so I chucked em in a couple of minutes after that. The edamame beans and pepper went in 3 minutes before the end, along with the coconut milk.

Serve!
Use a pasta server to scoop out a portion of noodles into each bowl, top with the remaining shrimp and veg, then ladle over the remaining broth.
Add a drop of sesame oil on to each.
Serve with the scallions, chillies and cilantro, soy sauce and lime juice on the side, to allow each eater to adjust to taste!

Vietnamese Crab Noodle Salad

Mmmm... I made this salad last week when I was ill with the cold - I figured I needed something with pretty strong flavours just so I could taste it! And it definitely hit the spot!!

I'm back at work now - feeling loads better. Luckily the cold didn't impact my appetite at all - even though I had days when I couldn't taste anything at all... Y'know - it's really hard to cook when you can't taste or smell!! I made a curry for my mum and dad on Thursday. I was using some new dried habenero chillies - and was really disappointed by how bland they were. Until my mum tried it... after the 2nd glass of water it became apparent that they weren't so bland after all!

But despite the cold and lack of taste, in the end I did manage to do some cooking - I just wasn't up to posting! And not being able to leave the house too much definitely helped me stick to my store cupboard challenge!

I'm sending this over to Ruth at Once Upon A Feast for Presto Pasta Night. I'm so glad you're feeling better now Ruth!

Vietnamese Crab Noodle Salad

Per person, multiply at will!

For the salad:

• rice vermicelli noodles, soaked according to packet, rinsed in cold water
• 1 scallion, shredded
• 1/2 medium carrot, grated
• 5 radishes, grated
• 1/4 cucumber, seeds removed, and chopped into chunks
• white crab meat (mine was from a tin!)
  

For the dressing:

• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 Thai red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1" piece ginger, finely grated
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp rice vinegar (optional!)
  

Garnish:

• handful of raw peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• rough chopped cilantro
  

To make the dressing...
Put all the ingredients in a bowl, and mix until the sugar is dissolved

Put the salad together...
Pour half of the dressing over the drained noodles and mix well. Mix the salad veg together with the remaining dressing.
Put the noodles in the serving bowl and top with the veg, then the white crab meat.

Top with the peanuts and cilantro... and enjoy!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 23

Tried, Tested and True: Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

Oh no!

I'm late!

:(

Basically I put the wrong date for Tried, Tested and True into my calendar - I thought I had until Thursday... Ooops... Well, here is my submission anyway - Giz and Psychgrad - I'm sorry it's late!

Tried, Tested and True is a new blog event which is being hosted by Giz and Psychgrad from Equal Opportunities Kitchen. If you haven't checked out their blog, do so. NOW! They are a mother/daughter duo, with cracking writing styles and lovely food. The aim of this event is to showcase the guaranteed crowd pleasers - the dishes that are always appreciated by friends or family.

This month I was at a bit of a loss on what to enter. As I am living off my store cupboard, my choices were limited. Then at the weekend it hit me... SOUP! I love soup - I eat a lot of it - and am used to massive bowls of steaming broth up on Scotland. I have a couple of favourites - one being my thick and hearty garlic and spinach soup. I'm also a huge fan of spicy lentil soup... and of course Scotch broth! But for this round up I decided to post Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus. It is a healthy, warming soup, which can be thinned down for summer months, or made almost as thick as a risotto for the winter! As it is coming into Spring, I opted for somewhere in the middle.

The asparagus isn't a constant - but I do usually try to add some extra veg for the vitamins. This was my first purchase of British asparagus this year - how amazing does this look?!

Gorgeous!

No matter what vegetable I use though, my soup is always a hit. Healthy, warming and cheap - I remember the first time I made it at university halls - feeding about 12 of us about 20p each! Ever since then it's always been my standby, my fallback. What I make when I'm feeling ill, or when I'm stressed and really busy. Unexpected visitors? All the ingredients are in the cupboard - and this soup can be ready inside half an hour! Fussy eaters? Everyone like tomato and rice! (Well, just about. And if they don't, there's a chippie on the corner!)

Perfect!

Tomato and Rice Soup with Asparagus

• 1 cup brown rice, soaked for 1 hour in hot water then drained and rinsed.
  
• 10 thick stalks of asparagus
• 500ml stock - I used turkey stock that had been frozen from Christmas... it even had lovely chunks of turkey meat in it... yum!
• 500g passata
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Put the stock and the passata into a large saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the drained rice, the paprika, cayenne and coriander, cover and turn to a low simmer.

Meanwhile, snap off the woody part of the asparagus stem and gently peel from below the tip. Chop the stem into rounds - each about 3/4 mm thick - and set aside the tips.

In a frying pan heat a glug of olive oil and fry the asparagus rounds - adding the garlic and some black pepper after a couple of minutes. Fry for another couple of minutes. Roughly chop the turkey meat from the stock and add it to the pan, along with the asparagus tips. Turn the heat off and set aside.

Once the rice is cooked, taste the broth and adjust the seasoning. Add the asparagus/turkey mixture and heat until the tips are al dente.

Serve with hunks of granary bread!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 9

Chilli Lime Mango!

I found this post by Kavs at The Girl Next Door yesterday, and was immediately interested!

Chilli... for desert!?? That's my kinda dish! And yay - I had all the ingredients to hand!

Mango with a Chilli Lime Kick!

I've departed slightly from the recipe - my mango was pretty ripe - so I diced it and squeezed a bit of lime juice of the pieces.

Then I mulched up half of a deseeded, finely chopped chilli with the zets of a lime and a tbsp of brown sugar.

Sprinkled it over the top, gave it a quick mix - bish bash bosh, job's a good un!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 3

Spinach Chana Dhal

Dhal, Dal, Daal, Dahl... They're all the same thing you know!

And that's tasty, cheap and healthy - no wonder they gave it so many names :)

I asked a friend to get me some dried chickpeas the other day - I've had an urge for home-made hummus since I had some at another friend's recently. But instead of chickpeas, I got a pack of chana dal (dhal, daal, dahl...)! There was a rationale - but I can't remember what it is now.

So I decided to make a dhal. As in the thick, spicy lentil stew - rather than the pulse itself...

And some naan bread to go with!

Spinach Chana Dhal

• 1.5 cups chana dal
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 slices fresh ginger (skin on)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 100g spinach, washed
• 1 tsp garam masala

Place the chana dal in a pot with twice as much boiling water and simmer for 30 minutes. (Alternatively you could pre-soak them for 2/3 hours... if you remember!)

Melt the ghee in a saucepan, and fry the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garlic and ginger for 2/3 minutes until the mustard seeds start to pop.

Add the chana dal, the rest of the spices (except the garam masala!) and the tomatoes. Top up with boiling water and simmer, covered for 45 minutes to an hour - or until the chana dal is tender. Top up water as required, and stir every so often to prevent sticking.

When the chana dal is tender, remove the ginger slices and use a fork to mash some of the dal against the side of the saucepan. This gives a more interesting texture and consistency - don't skip it!

Add the spinach and garam masala and cook for another 3/4 minutes until the spinach is wilted.

Serve with rice - either plain or pilaf, or with naan bread!

Excuse the lurid photo - it looked better in real life!

Porcini Stuffed Pork with Red Pepper Pulse-otto!

Blimey - for some inexplicable reason I've written this post in reverse order - and it already seems really long! So I'll try to keep this bit short and sweet...

After a bout of illness, and a very unhealthy Easter Weekend, I was in the mood for a decent meal. It had to involve roast meat... and avoid starchiness! Then I remembered that I had wanted to enter this month's Waiter, there's something in my... event - which this month is... pulses! It's being hosted by Jeanne, over at Cook Sister - and I think it's a great theme! Especially as I have decided to try to eat more pulses and veg!

I've came up with a pulse-otto. Yes, yes, it's kinda twee and a bit forced, but I am starving and ready to go for lunch - so just think, risotto with lentils instead of rice ;) It was actually going to include rice initially... until I forgot to buy some... So I decided to chuck in red lentils instead. It just makes it even healthier! And even pulsier - so just right for this event!

Porcini Stuffed Pork with Red Pepper Pulse-otto!

Feeds 3 - with plenty of lentils to spare!

• 600g pork tenderloin
• 150g chestnut mushrooms
• 5 cloves garlic
• 30g dried porcini, soaked in hot water for 30 minutes, reserve soaking liquor
• 10 slices smoked streaky bacon
• small handful chopped flat leaf parsley
• 15 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, finely chopped
• Bunch spinach
• 3/4 cup red lentils, washed
• 1 tin green lentils (I used tinned - use whatever you have to hand!)
• 3/4 cup broad beans (I used frozen - use whatever you have to hand!)
• 1 red pepper
• 1 red onion
• Approx 250 ml vegetable stock
• Salt & Pepper to season
• olive oil for frying

Prepare the pork!

Preheat oven to 180c (350f).

Very finely chop the chestnut mushrooms - you could do this in the food processor, but I wanted to keep some of the texture! Chop up half of the porcini mushrooms. In a frying pan, heat a glug of olive oil over a medium heat, then fry mushrooms for a few minutes until almost cooked. Add 3 crushed cloves of garlic and continue to fry for a further couple of minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and season to taste.

Cut the visible fat and sinew from the pork tenderloin and cut in half lengthways to open the pork out into a flat rectangle. Cover with cling film and bash a few time with a rolling pin to flatten it out more uniformly.

Lay the washed, but uncooked spinach leaves over the pork (cut off any tough stems), then spread the mushroom and tomato mix over the leaves.

Now roll the tenderloin back up so it looks like a swiss roll!

Take each slice of bacon and flatten/stretch it out. (Either with a rolling pin, or by a knife - up to you!)

Cut one slice in half and stretch over each end of the "swiss roll". (Hmm... now is when I realise I really should have taken pictures at every step!) But basically, you are kind of sealing the ends to stop the filling coming out... Now, take the remaining bacon and, starting from the edge of the capped piece, roll up the pork log in the bacon. (I'm sure I'm making this sound more difficult than it is! Think wrapping chicken in parma ham!)

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan, and seal the pork round all sides.

Place on a baking tray and roast in oven for 45 minutes (if using a meat thermometer, reading should be about 160c). Remove from oven, cover and leave for 10-15 minutes to rest.

The Pulse-otto!
Meanwhile, while the pork is roasting, start making the pulse-otto!

In a deep pan, sauté the onions and red peppers until soft. Chop up the other half of the porcini mushrooms and add to the pan. Crush two cloves of garlic and add them - and the red lentils - to the pan Allow to sauté for a few minutes more.

Add the strained mushroom liquor and the stock to the pan until the lentil are covered by about an inch.

Simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Add the broadbeans and green lentils, cover and set aside.

To serve!
Once the pork has rested, slice into 1cm rounds. Dish up a couple of spoonfuls of the lentil mix, top with the pork slices, and serve with roast vegetables.



**************************************

Note on re-heating!

I had about a third of this left to reheat the next day. I hadn't sliced it yet, as I was concerned that the pork would dry out or become tough.

To get6 round this, I mixed up a little vegetable bouillon (fairly weak) and put it into a frying pan (about 1cm up the sides). I then sliced the remaining pork, and put it into the pan. I poached it gently for 3/4 minutes, basting to ensure the top was warmed through also. It worked well - the pork was still tender and juicy!

I had some tomatoes going spare, so sliced them in half, chucked on a drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkled on some garlic salt and red chilli flakes. 10 minutes under a medium/high grill til they were just starting to collapse - yum!

Moroccan Marinated Chicken with Tabbouleh

I'm a bit late in actually publishing this one - considering I started it at the same time I wrote up my Tabbouleh recipe! And it is barely even a recipe - more just a bringing together of components!

This was my effort for last week's girlie night in - a taste of summer despite the rain that poured down for most of the week...

Moroccan Marinated Chicken with Tabbouleh

• Chicken breasts - one per person
• chermoula - one tbsn per person
• a little olive oil for frying
• tabbouleh - as much as you want!

• optional extras - lightly toasted pita bread, hummus, wedge of lemon

Place the chicken breast between 2 sheets of clingfilm and use a rolling pin/ jam jar/ bottle of wine/ shoe to flatten it out to about 2 cm thick. (Though don't really use a shoe...)

Spread the chermoula onto the chicken breasts and massage in. (Garlic and chilli alert: wash your hands straight away! Or try this tip - massage a little olive oil into your hands and nails before you handle the sauce - this will stop the chilli/garlic oil being absorbed into your skin)

Cover and place in the fridge for at least a couple of hours - I left mine overnight.

Heat a little olive oil over a medium heat and fry the chicken for 2/3 minutes each side. Make sure there is no pink left - but be careful not to overcook or it will go tough and stringy!

Serve the chicken on top of the tabbouleh, with a wedge of lemon and some hummus and pita bread.

An Accidental dinner: Chermoula Trout with Puy Lentil Veggie Stew

As I had bought a huge bunch of cilantro (just so I could garnish my thai soup) I was determined to not waste it, and went on a cilantro-rich recipe hunt! I typed in "coriander recipe" (having briefly forgotten my lesson) into google, and my googlepedia found me this Wikipedia article on Chermoula.

Yuck, I think that is quite enough links for now...

So anyway, I was initially planning to use a decent piece of white fish with my chermoula marinade, and make a cous cous salad to go with it.

But I saw an amazing piece of Scottish trout at the fishmongers - rich pink with the finest marble lines. And was reminded how much I love trout. I much prefer it to salmon. My grandfather used to be a fisherman, and my childhood holds many memories of whole trout (along with the occasional rabbit - never worked that one out actually). I don't think I appreciated it enough at the time though!

I had a think - and decided that the trout could hold the strong flavours of the marinade - and the unlikely (yet delicious!) combo of Scottish trout with Moroccan marinade was born! If you can't get a hold of trout, I'm sure salmon would work similarly.

I got home, and hit a set back. The cous cous that I need to make my vegetable cous cous side... was gone! No idea where. I definitely don't remember eating a whole packet of cous cous. So I decided to go for bulgar wheat instead.... but was similarly denied. I think there is a grocery thief with very precise requirements at work in my kitchen. Alternatively, it was fate, because although i finally decided on puy lentils through lack of choice - the earthy lentils with the slightly gamey taste of the fish and the super spicy and garlicky flavours of the marinade were really, really good!

What I'm trying to say, is this is not a dish I would have chosen to put together, but it's definitely one I'll put together again!

Chermoula Trout with Puy Lentil Veggie Stew

This gave me enough fish for one big meal - though there was loads of veggie lentils left over - I had that the next day - I added a handful of black olives, and ate with hummus and pita bread. So it may not have been authentic, but it tasted great!

• 250g piece trout (or salmon!)
• 1 cup puy lentils
• 1 small courgette, halved and sliced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• a couple of handfuls of mushrooms, quartered
• 2 tbsp chermoula
• 2 cups stock - whatever flavour takes your fancy
• Olive oil to fry

Rinse and drain the puy lentils, before placing in a pan with the stock. Bring to the boil, simmer for 15 minutes. add 1 tbsp of the chermoula and continue to cook until al dente. The stock should not be completely evaporated - we want this to help form a sauce with the vegetables.

Meanwhile, heat a glug of olive oil in a pan, and fry the onion for a couple of minutes. Add 1 tbsp chermoula, the chilli and mushrooms and fry until mushrooms are done. Add the pepper and courgette and cook for a few more minutes - the pepper should still have a bit of bite!

Add the carrots and lentils to the pan and stir to mix. Allow to cook for another couple of minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as required.

Serve the fish atop the lentils - and enjoy!

11-a-Day Roast Veggie Stew!

I've no idea if this is in fact a stew, or a thick soup, or a chunky sauce.

What I can tell you is it is healthy, filling, versatile and tasty!

Every couple of weeks I get an urge to eat a huge portion of vegetables. Usually on a Monday, and usually after a particularly unhealthy weekend! This generally takes one of two routes - go to local greengrocers and buy lots of gorgeous veg and make a mammoth stirfry... or go to local greengrocers and buy lots of gorgeous veg and roast them all into a sloppy, tasty mess! Admittedly the first option is healthier - but the second is much more comforting! I use olive oil spray to cut down the amount of oil I use.

So I wandered home from work on Monday night fully intending to make a spanish fish stew (which will just have wait!) but got sidetracked by the idea of veg and instead ended up with...

... My 11 a Day Roast Veggie Stew

You can use any veg you want in whatever quantities you want - just pick what you enjoy/have available. There are lots of additions - I often fry up some chorizo (at the same step I fry the mushrooms here), or add some type of legumes to pad it out.

Veg I roasted:

• 2 large tomatoes
• 3 parsnips
• 2 red onions
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 3 red turkish chilis
• 1 mild green turkish chili
• 2 carrots
• 2 courgettes (zuccinis!)
• 1 head of garlic

Veg I pan cooked:

• 2 large tomatoes, roughtly diced
• 150g chestnut mushrooms, halved
• 1 scotch bonnet chili, finely chopped

Other:

• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• salt/pepper,dried chili flakes
• 150 ml vegetable stock

Lightly spray two oven trays with olive oil. (Or you could do three if you have three shelves in your oven!)

Decide what veg you want to roast - then cut it into pieces such that it will all become ready at the same time. As the greengrocers had another good deal on garlic, I also used this opportunity to roast up 6 heads of garlic. Alternatively, chuck a crushed clove or two in with the mushrooms!



Lay the veg out on the greased trays, the mist in olive oil again. Season and spice as required! This time I used white pepper, salt and red chili flakes, either singularly or all, depending on the veg (i.e. I don't salt carrots or peppers, but other veg can take a lot of seasoning.)


Put in the oven at about 200c for about 40 minute. Turn or shake the veg as appropriate during cooking!

Meanwhile, spray a little oil into a medium hot pan, and toss in the halved mushrooms. Fry for a few minutes until cooked through. Add the other pan veg and tomato paste and allow to cook for a few minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar and sugar and allow to reduce slightly, then add the stock. allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Take off the heat until the other veg are roasted.

Once the oven veg is ready, tip it all into the pan and stir to mix. Heat through, and adjust seasoning if required (remember the roast veg were well seasoned, so don't season sauce until this stage!)

You can serve this as it is - with lots of crusty bread.

You could also blend it up and add more stock to make a nourishing soup.

Or split in half, blend one half, and mix back together to make a lovely roast veg sauce!

Whatever you do with it - enjoy!

My smug and tasty bean salad!

Well, after my speedy efforts to cook myself a quick dinner last night, I found myself with time to spare to make something nice and healthy to bring to lunch today!

After going for sushi on Saturday night, and snacking on pork gyozas when watching Terminator 2 on Sunday, I was feeling somewhat Japanese inspired, and decided to do something with edamame beans (soybeans) - but I can't take credit for the salad idea, as I nicked it from from Marks and Spencers...!

It tastes fabulous, and is super healthy. Unfortunately since I started typing this I've scoffed a choccie biscuit - but I still feel fairly virtuous!

Tuna and Bean Salad with a Spicy Sweet Chilli Dressing

Now, I have absolutely no idea what quantities I used - so am going to use handfuls! I made enough for 2 lunches - add or remove from this as required... Though it will keep for a couple of days in the fridge - just don't put the dressing on until you are ready to eat it. I reuse an old vitamin bottle to take salad dressings to work - then just shake it up and pour it on!

• 200g tin tuna steaks
• Large handful of broad beans (I used frozen)
  
• Large handful of edamame beans (I used frozen)
• Large handful of sugarsnap peas
  
• 100g fine green beans, chopped into 1cm long pieces
• Small handful of chopped coriander
• 2 large handfuls leafy salad (I wanted to get rocket for this, but the shop didn't have any - so I tried pea shoots instead - lovely! Watercress would also work well)

Cook the broad beans , edamame and green beans for 3/4 minutes, or until just tender, then plunge into iced water to refresh. Drain well.
Divide the cold cooked beans between two dishes.
Place a handful of the salad leaves on top of the beans and top with the coriander.
Scatter over the sugarsnap peas.
Flake the tuna steaks and divide between the two dishes.

The dressing:
6 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Juice of one lemon
Dash soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

Shake dressing ingedients together well, and pour over salad just before eating.