04May / 2016

Refried Beans, Coconut Green Rice, Grilled Peppers and Avocado

I decided to cook this to use up some ingredients I had in the fridge but it turned out rather tasty so I will write it down and definitely cook it again! The refried beans I have cooked many times and go well with tacos if you want to skip the meat as well. I don’t add any spices to the beans as I just enjoy the sweetness from the onion to flavour them but you could use spices such as cumin, coriander, smoked paprika if you wanted an extra kick to the recipe. The good thing about having things like limes, coriander, coconut milk and peppers in the house is that you can go either way – Thai or Mexican! As you might have guessed – two of my favourite cuisines!

Serves 1

Rice:

60g brown rice

75g spinach

a handful of fresh coriander

1 tbsp coconut milk

Refried Beans:

1 onion

3 tsp of olive oil

1 clove of garlic

1 can of kidney beans

100ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper

Sides:

1/2 each of two different coloured peppers

1/2 avocado

1/2 lime

salt and pepper

fresh coriander to garnish

Boil the kettle and heat up 2 hobs, preheat the grill to medium high.
Put the rice into plenty of boiling water, bring up to the boil and then simmer for 25 minutes
In the meantime, prepare everything else.
Blitz the coriander and spinach in a food processor until fine
Heat 2 tsp oil in a small saucepan and then turn down to low (3).
Dice the onion and add to the saucepan to slowly cook through for 10 minutes until translucent. Any time the pan gets too hot or there is no oil left, pour in a splash of water from the kettle until it has evaporated or been absorbed. We want the onions soft and sweet not crunchy.
Meanwhile cut 2 sides off each pepper, discard any internal flesh and cut each side into 2. Line a grill pan with foil and put under the grill skin side up. This should take about 10 – 15 minutes to brown. You can either brown the skin or char it black and remove it at the end.
Remove the skin and slice the avocado half. Dress with the juice from half the lime, salt and pepper.
Crush in the garlic into the pan of onions and stir fry for 1 minute.
Drain and rinse the beans in a colander and add to the pan with the stock. Turn up high and cook for about 5 minutes until nearly all of the stock has evaporated or been absorbed.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper and mash in the pan. Then add the last teaspoon of oil and a splash of water if it looks too dry and refry the beans on a medium heat.
Drain the rice when ready and return it to the pan. Stir in the spinach and coriander mixture and the coconut milk. Return to the hob to heat through for a minute.
Arrange all on a plate and serve.

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01May / 2016

Thai Steamed Sea Bass with Sesame Noodles, Garlic Pak Choi and Beetroot

My mum is on a Slimming World diet which doesn’t allow oil unless you count it as a syn. So I decided to create something that she could cook. This recipe does include oil but you can omit it as it’s not used in the cooking process or you could swap the noodles for cauliflower rice if necessary. To make cauliflower rice, simply blitz up raw cauliflower in a food processor until fine, put in a bowl covered in cling film with a small slit in the top and microwave for 2 minutes. I definitely cook this for her next time she comes around as she loves fish, loves Thai food and it’s really tasty! I bought my thai ingredients from an oriental wholesaler, they were very cheap. I have about 100 lime leaves in my freezer now!

Serves 2

Paste:

6cm ginger root

1 garlic clove

Juice of 2 limes

4 lime leaves

2 tbsp water

1 birds eye chilli

1 stick of lemon grass

2 large handfuls of fresh coriander

Fish

2 sea bass filleted or 4 sea bass fillets

Salt and Pepper

Vegetables

2 fresh raw beetroot

2 pak choi

1 clove of garlic

Noodles

2 nests of wholewheat noodles

1 tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tsp sesame seeds

Unsweetened desiccated coconut to serve (optional)

Preheat the oven to 200C.
Peel the ginger and lemongrass and blend it together with the other paste ingredients in the food processor.
Get 2 1 metre pieces of kitchen foil to make your 2 packets for your fish, 1 per person. Divide the 2 portions of fish between the 2 pieces of foil and place them in the middle with space either side to seal. First, lay the fish skin side up and season with salt and pepper. Then turn them over and spread on the paste on each of the fillets.
For each packet, bring the two ends together and scrunch so that there is some space above the fish to make steam. Then seal the sides.
Place in the oven on a baking tray for 15 minutes, then open each packet up and bake for a further 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the vegetables and noodles.
Boil the kettle
Meanwhile, chop off the root and tops from the beetroot, scrub any mud and remove any gnarly bits with a knife. Using a mandolin on its biggest setting (about 2mm) cut the beetroot into slices. Put in a small saucepan with the boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.
Put a large dry non stick frying pan on a medium heat.Slice the pak choi lengthways into 5mm thick slices. Add to the pan and wait for it to sizzle. Add about 5mm of water from the kettle to the bottom of the pan. Crush in a clove of garlic. If all the water evaporates, add more, don’t let it go dry until near the end. Cook for 3-4 minutes each side.
Add boiling water from the kettle to a medium saucepan and simmer the noodles for 5 minutes with a pinch of salt.
Once cooked, drain and return to the pan, stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds.
Plate up and sprinkle on the coconut if using.

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10Apr / 2016

Wholemeal Spelt Tagliatelle with Roasted Aubergine and Tomato

Sorry to labour the point about good quality tomatoes but it makes all the difference! I used wholemeal spelt tagliatelle in this recipe but if you can’t find it, use wholemeal tagliatelle instead, I know they definitely sell it in Sainsbury’s. I managed to find wholemeal spelt pasta in Rome and also in Home Sense! Both times it gave the ingredients in Italian: farina di farro. This is a quick, simple recipe and really good after doing exercise. I garnished with fresh marjoram as I have it growing in my garden and it tastes a little like oregano but this is optional!

Serves 1

1 aubergine

1 tbsp olive oil

2 medium good quality fresh tomatoes

1/2 can good quality chopped tomatoes

2 balls of wholemeal tagliatelle/100g other wholemeal pasta

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C
Chop the aubergine into 1cm thick rounds and then cut right across each round 3 times to make into bite sized segments.
Put the aubergine into the medium sized roasting tin and drizzle with the oil and season. Toss through the with your hands to ensure everything is evenly coated.
Put into the oven and set the time for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile chop each tomato into quarters, remove the green part of the core and chop each quarter into 2. Season with salt and pepper.
Boil the kettle for the pasta and preheat a hob at a medium heat (4).
2 minutes before the aubergine timer has finished, add the boiled water and pasta to a medium saucepan on the hob. Bring to the boil and simmer for 12 minutes or until the pasta is al dente.
Once the 10 minutes is up, bring the aubergines out of the oven and use a fish slice to scrape them up and turn them over. Add the fresh tomatoes and return to the oven for 8 minutes.
Once the 8 minutes are up, take the roasting tin out of the oven, pour in the canned tomatoes, mix and return to the oven for 2 minutes.
One the pasta is cooked, drain. Take the tin out of the oven, add the pasta and oregano to the sauce and mix so that the pasta absorbs all of the lovely flavours.
Plate up and enjoy!

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10Apr / 2016

Pork Loin with Sweet Potato Colcannon

This is pork loin cooked with mustard and rosemary on a bed of sweet potato and celeriac colannon served with broccoli. You can cook this under 30 minutes but it’s a bit hectic so you might want to prepare all the vegetables in advance and take a bit more time. It depends on how confident you are in the kitchen.

Serves 2

350g celeriac cut into 1 cm slices

250g sweet potato

4 spring onions

20g butter

2 pork loins

2 sprigs of rosemary

2 tsp of mustard powder

1/4 of a savoy cabbage with outer leaves removed (about 250g)

10 florets of broccoli

salt and pepper

Boil the kettle and warm up the hob on a medium-high heat (4)
Peel and chop the celeriac and sweet potato into 1cm chunks
Put the celeriac into a medium saucepan, cover with boiling water and put on the warm hob. Add a pinch of salt. Bring up to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes
Peel and chop the spring onions into 3-4mm rounds
Melt 10g of the butter in a medium frying pan over a medium heat (3)
After 5 minutes of the celeriac simmering, add the sweet potato to the same pan.
Add the spring onion to the frying pan and stir fry until soft, then remove the onion from the pan into a separate bowl.
Remove the leaves from the rosemary and chop finely.
Put the frying pan back on the heat, it should have some butter still in it. Turn it up a little (4) and add the pork loins. Sprinkle over a quarter of the rosemary and half a teaspoon of mustard powder on each loin, season and then turn immediately. Add the remaining mustard powder and rosemary and fry for 4 minutes. Turn and fry for another 4 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil the kettle again, remove the stem from the cabbage and shred. Boil in a small saucepan for 5 minutes.
Drain and set aside with the spring onion.
Boil the kettle again
When the celeriac and sweet potato is done, drain and put back into the medium saucepan. Add the other 10g of butter and using a hand blender, blitz the celeriac and sweet potato mixture until smooth.
Add the broccoli to the small saucepan, put back on the heat, cover with boiling water and a pinch of salt and simmer for 3 minutes.
Add the spring onion and cabbage to the sweet potato mixture and stir through.
Serve and enjoy. Delicious and simple!

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09Apr / 2016

Creamy BBQ Beans

Serves 2 as a side

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion

1 clove garlic

1 can haricot/cannelloni beans drained

1/2 can good quality chopped tomatoes

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp mustard powder

pinch of salt and pepper

1 tbsp creme fraiche

1 tbsp of coriander leaves

Heat the oil in a large saucepan on a medium hob (3)
Finely dice the onion
When the oil is hot, saute the onion for 5-10 minutes until it is soft
Add the garlic and stir fry for 1 minute
Add all of the other ingredients, stir and leave it simmer for 20 minutes to bed in the flavours. Stir every now and then.
Halfway through, if it is getting a little dry, add a splash of recently boiled water
At the end stir in the creme fraiche and top with the coriander leaves. If you don’t like a big hit of coriander you can always chop these finely and add.
Serve with sourdough toast, steam green vegetables or omelette.

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09Apr / 2016

Chicken Liver Pate

200g of chicken livers are about £1.50 from my local butchers making it a very cheap but tasty source of protein.

50g butter

1 small onion

leaves from 1 sprig of fresh thyme

200g chicken livers

2 tbsp full fat live yoghurt

1 tbsp tomato puree

Pinch of salt and pepper

Pinch of ground allspice

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Finely chop the onion and pick off the leaves from the thyme
Take 10g of the butter and melt in a medium sized saucepan on medium low heat (3)
Once melted turn the heat down a little and let the onion and thyme cook in the melted butter for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash the chicken livers and trim away any sinew. Pat dry with kitchen roll. Chop into 15mm pieces.
Remove the onion mixture from the pan into the food processor bowl and set aside
Add another 10g of the butter to the pan and cook the chicken livers on high for 2 minutes until caramelised on the outside.
Place all the ingredients into the food processor. Blend until as smooth as you can get it.
Pass the mixture through a sieve so you are just left with the smooth mixture and leave to cool.
Seal with melted butter if you wish but I don’t believe it’s necessary.
Serve with sourdough toast or oatcakes.
The pate will freeze but remember not to heat when defrosting or else the yoghurt may curdle and split.

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03Apr / 2016

Healthy Tacos

Tacos are made in a factory so strictly speaking, they’re processed but when I looked at the ingredients list it said cornflour and oil so it didn’t look as if they were full of chemicals and life’s too short to make your own tacos! Plus only 2 ingredients makes it under the 5 ingredients rule of clean eating.

My boyfriend swears that if you use guacamole and creme fraiche as cement when building the taco then it doesn’t go everywhere when you eat it. I tried it and it still didn’t work!

Serves 2-3

1 brown onion

1 clove of garlic

1 finger/birds eye chilli (add more if you like it hot)

500g minced beef (I used 10% fat)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp coriander

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp oil

Salsa

1/2 green pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

1 spring onion

3 medium tomatoes

Half a lime

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Handful of fresh coriander

To serve:

Creme fraiche or sour cream

1 5cm slice of Iceberg lettuce shredded

Grated cheese for those not dieting!

8 taco shells

Guacamole

Peel and chop off the root end of the spring onion. Finely slice and place in a bowl of cold water for at least 10 minutes to get rid of the tart flavour of raw onion.
Heat the oil for the beef in a large saucepan over a medium hob (3).
Finely chop the brown onion and when the oil is hot enough, add and saute for 10 minutes.
Finely slice the chilli and add with the crushed garlic and saute for a further minute. You can also add the stalks from the fresh coriander, finely chopped at this point.
Add the spices, seasoning and the meat and brown the meat turning up the heat slightly (4).
Once brown turn down (2) and leave to absorb the flavours for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the salsa, drain the spring onion and gently pat dry with some kitchen roll. It doesn’t have to be bone dry.
Chop the coriander leaves finely, chop the peppers into 5mm squares and the tomatoes as finely as you can.
Add all the ingredients into a bowl, squeeze in the lime and drizzle over the extra virgin olive oil. I don’t like to season it as the salt draws all of the water out of the tomatoes.
Make the guacamole, shred the lettuce and serve everything in bowls so people can help themselves.
Separate the tacos on a plate and microwave for 1 minute.
Let everyone tuck in and enjoy!

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03Apr / 2016

Vegetable Stock

This is quick and easy to make. I don’t have a recipe to use it with yet, I’ve been experimenting a bit but haven’t come up with anything tasty enough.

Makes 500 – 700ml

1 large carrot

1 large onion

1 large leek

2 sticks of celery

15 peppercorns

2 bay leaves

1/2 tsp salt

6 parsley stalks

2 sprigs of thyme

1 litre of boiled water

Top and tail and peel the carrot, onion and leek. Top and tail and wash the celery.
Cut a slit in the top of the leeks and wash out any mud.
Chop all of the vegetables into chunks and blitz in the food processor.
Add with all the other ingredients in a large saucepan.
Bring to the boil and put on a rolling simmer for 30 minutes.
Pour into a sieve over a bowl and press. Leave for 10 or so minutes to get the maximum amount of stock from the ingredients. Discard or compost the remnants in the sieve.

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04Mar / 2016

Savoury Peanut Fro Yo

I am a sugar addict so I cannot eat anything too sweet or else I will crave sugar again. But I’m experimenting with some savoury alternatives to ice cream for fun!

Food Blog 001

Serves 1

2 tbsp full fat probiotic yoghurt

1 tbsp natural crunchy peanut butter (I use whole earth as it has no sugar or nasties)

Mix in a freezable contain and freeze for at least 24 hours
15 minutes before serving take out of the freezer to thaw a little
After 15 minutes mix so that it takes on a creamy consistency and then serve with sliced fruit

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04Mar / 2016

Sweet Potato Dauphinoise

Serves 2 as a side dish

1 sweet potato

1/4 red onion

2 tbsp creme fraiche

40g pumpkin seeds

Salt and Pepper

Preheat the oven to 190C
Wash the sweet potato and keeping the skin on, cut into 5mm thick rounds
Cut the onion in half and chop half of one half into 5mm half moons
Place the onion and sweet potato in a mixing bowl with the creme fraiche, salt and pepper. Mix until everything is covered.
Arrange the drenched sweet potato and onion in a small baking dish (I used an oval dish about 20cm x 12cm) and pour on any remaining mixture.
Blitz the pumpkin seeds in a small chopper but keep it roughly chopped and not too smooth. Top the dauphinoise with the blitzed pumpkin seeds.
Bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Keep an eye on it, if the pumpkin seeds are getting too brown move to a lower shelf.

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Refried Beans, Coconut Green Rice, Grilled Peppers and Avocado