Category Archives: Want to make again

Puy Lentil, Brown Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

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I think I’ve just made the best thing I’ve ever eaten – and apparently it’s incredibly good for you too.

This recipe comes from ‘Honestly Healthy for Life’ by Natasha Corrett and Vicki Edgson. This was my birthday present from Freya (the book not the meal) – and I’m really chuffed with it. 

There are so many textures and flavours going on in this recipe. Brown rice and puy lentils, sweet potatoes, edamame beans, cashews, pumpkin seeds, spring onions and dill – hmm its just so yummy – and I know I’ll make this regularly. If I had a top 5 this would be in it.

The pumpkin seeds are especially interesting as they are roasted with tamari (soy sauce) and they end up with a lovely intense flavour that really contrasts with everything else.

There is also a dressing of sunflower oil, parsley, lemon and salt which keeps it all nice and moist and gives a nice citrus tang. The dill also really features well.

You really have to make this dish – we had it warm – but only because time was getting on and I was hungry and impatient for it to cool down. We only ate half so no doubt this will be lunch for tomorrow – and I can’t imagine it being any less awesome cold!

The ‘Perfect’ Omelette

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The Perfect Omelette

I always raise my eyebrows to recipes that say – the perfect this or the best that. You are already setting yourself up for disappointment – because invariably they aren’t perfect or the best.

And what does perfect mean? Is it the author’s perfect omelette? Perfect to me means flipped on both sides rather than folded – and with cheese and chilli. For the author I imagine it means this is the perfectly balanced and healthy omelette to have for breakfast to start the day given that this omelette comes courtesy of Honestly Healthy for Life.

It’s very simple and very very tasty.

We’re usually very lax at breakfast time and either don’t bother having any – or grab a slice of toast at work. But we’ve noticed we don’t feel great when we snack on bread so we thought we’d try this instead.

It’s not obvious from the picture – but this is a two egg omelette which had quite a bit of parsley chopped into the egg. While it is frying in the pan you add some chopped tomato and mushroom (which you’ve previously cooked for a few minutes). You put the filling on one side of the omelette then top with fresh spinach and red chilli (if you want), then fold, cook for a short while and then flip.

You think the spinach won’t fit inside the omelette – and it doesn’t to start with – but it soon wilts – and when you fold it it all fits in nicely.

I thought my perfect omelette was a three egg, mint, pea and feta omelette – but this one really does come close. It was fantastic. And it is clearly more healthy than the one I usually make!

Buffalo Mozzarella with Peperonata and Rosemary Ciabatta Croutons

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Now here’s a yummy salad. 

Also taken from ‘Friends Round the Table’ by Acland Geddes and Pedro da Silva, this was pulled from the Times Eat supplement.

The peperonata takes some time to make so it you think this salad is going to be ready in 20 minutes, it isn’t. I think it took me nearly 45 minutes to make this. That said it was worth it. The peppers were nice and sweet and went really well with the rosemary ciabatta (not in the photo). 

Peperonata is basically julienned peppers, diced tomatoes, red onion, garlic, vinegar, sugar and salt. This one also had capers. 

Once the peperonata is ready you let it cool and serve it on a bed of rocket with some basil and torn mozzarella. The addition of toasted pinenuts and a drizzle of olive oil really finished it off well.

We had a bit of a nightmare with the ciabatta. Not only did Ocado substitute the ciabatta for a rustic artisan stick, turns out that it wasn’t even in the delivery so we had no bread at all ! We stole some stale bread from Freya’s parents while they were away – and revived it in the halogen oven. It kind of worked but it was a bit crunchy.

This was a perfect light meal – and I’ll certainly be making it again.

 

Crunchy Fennel Salad with Pomegranate, Mango and Walnuts

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Another ‘no-cook’ recipe – unless you count toasting some walnuts for a few minutes, this salad is very nice indeed – very refreshing and pretty simple to make.

One thing that always puts me off salads with mango is I am rubbish at breaking down a mango. I always make a mess and end up gnawing on the stone like a dog with a bone – just because I don’t like wasting any of it. Mangoes are a very inconsiderate fruit. I mean why put such a large stone in a fruit that big. Once you’ve removed all the flesh, julienning it seems to be just one step too far. Although on this occasion I seem to have done quite a good job.

Pomegranates are another one of those fruits that makes you just want to buy a pot of the seeds. That said the seeds are never as juicy as buying a fresh pomegranate, cutting it in half and whacking the back of it with a heavy spoon (or my preference the pestle from my glass pestle and mortar). All I’d say is whack them into a separate bowl rather than over the fennel like I did – as the juice splashes everywhere and makes the fennel look like it took part in a horror movie.

That’s as hard as the prep gets though. Just add the mango and pomegranate to some sliced fennel, sliced red onion, red chilli and the toasted walnuts. Toss it all together with some lime juice, coriander and lemon thyme. 

This is a wonderful salad and can be found in ‘Friends Around the Table’ by Acland Geddes and Pedro da Silva. This was again taken from a pullout from the Times Eat Magazine.

 

Tomato, Fennel and Arak Soup

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Gee it seems like ages since I made anything. But it has only been a couple of days.

We’ve been under a lot of pressure to get the boat finished and have basically been eating shop bought dips and cheese and bread for 5 days while we put in lots of hours sanding and painting – desperately trying to get it finished before we move it next Saturday.

That said – there were some ingredients in the fridge that needed using up – and there were still three recipes left to make from Veggiestan – so I made this.

Just in case you’re wondering, Arak is an anise-flavored distilled alcoholic beverage traditional to Lebanon, Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries. Ouzo, Pernod, Rakir are acceptable substitutes. I have Rakir and Pernod – but for my soup I used Pernod as I figured it had more of an aniseed taste.

I don’t usually make soups – especially when the weather in the UK has been pretty good and salad inducing. I leave soups to my mother-in-law. She has a Thermomix (which I bought her a year ago) and this makes amazing soup with next to no mess – so generally soups are left to her. This one caught my eye simply because it contained alcohol.

It’s trivial to make this. Chop some red peppers, fennel, tomatoes, onions, garlic and soften. Add some stock, spices and alcohol and simmer until it’s done.

This is really chunky and really tasty. Fennel is an amazing vegetable and people just don’t use it enough. I stirred in some creme fraiche at the end and I think it spoiled it a bit – so the second bowl I left it out and it was much better.

The ingredients for this recipe are often left over after a weeks cooking – so I think I’d probably contemplate making this each time – it took less than an hour – and I imagine it’ll keep quite well. It might even be good cold as a kind of Gazpacho.

Roasted Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes with a Caper Vinagrette

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We were in a rush to cook something quickly before going Rock’n’Roll dancing and I realised when we got home that I was pretty much one ingredient short on almost all the recipes I wanted to make.

Fortunately I had all the ingredients for this – Roasted Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes.

Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to make it – so I had a choice – go dancing and not eat – or eat and not go dancing. Dancing won the day ! And it’s good we went everything seemed to fall into place and we started getting the moves right. Superwoman’s, flat hand pushes, and ‘the ladies rest’ all seemed to come together beautifully. Happy days. Now we have three moves – the sky’s the limit!

We got home around 11pm and I resumed the cooking – and finished it this morning – so we’re having it for lunch today.

Essentially you roast some parsnips, red onions and sweet potatoes in garlic, rosemary and thyme and towards the end throw in some cherry tomatoes. After a 90 minutes roast (from start to finish) you dress the roasted vegetables in lemon juice, olive oil and capers. It’s very easy – just takes time in the oven. Even the prep is easy as you don’t even need to peel the vegetables!

If you were a roast dinners kind of person this would be a very nice twist on some otherwise plainly roasted vegetables. I think it is a great dish in its own right – the lemon juice and capers really brings a whole new flavour to the vegetables.

You really can’t go wrong with Ottolenghi.

Pomegranate and Cucumber Salsa

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Another late dinner for us. – way past 9pm. And there was a choice. More Mung Bean Casserole (see previous post) or something else. Something else won the coin toss.

This is another dish from Veggiestan by Sally Butcher. 

Once I’ve made more than half a dozen things from a book and liked them I can safely recommend the book. Apart from the shocker that was Figs and Fried Eggs, everything else has been awesome – and there’s still half a dozen things I haven’t made yet.

The keen eyes amongst you will realise as I did that this dish could have been called anything – there are a lot of ingredients in this dish other than the two in the title. Pretty much every ingredient in this dish is in equal proportion. Pomegranate, cucumber, tomato, peppers, spring onions, mint, coriander – lots of very fresh ingredients. There is also a hot chilli pepper to give it some kick. I added a Scotch Bonnet. There’s even more zinginess from the juice of some limes.

This recipe is in the Meze section of the book and is supposed to be part of many other dishes. We had it on its own as it was getting late and I realised I had missing ingredients for the other things I wanted to make. It is very enjoyable on its own anyway.

I never feel bad eating salad late at night – it’s hardly going to pile on the pounds. In any case we can dance it off tomorrow night when we go Rock’n’Roll dancing!