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!

Beetroot, Sweet Potato and Carrot Salad

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

I wish I could remember where I found this recipe. It was incredible easy apart from the bloodbath that is peeling and dicing beetroots.

Once they are diced, you boil them in very little water, and when they are half done you add the sweet potato. Once cooked, drain and allow to cool. Then you simply toss them together with some grated carrot, coriander and mint.

What I did love about this salad was the way the beetroot juice bled into the sweet potatoes; it gave them an interesting colouring.

When I remember where I found this recipe I’ll re-edit the post – just thought I’d put it out there!

Buffalo Mozzarella with Peperonata and Rosemary Ciabatta Croutons

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

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.

Roast Potatoes with mint, garlic and preserved lemon

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

Roast potatoes are essentially just roasted potatoes.

We don’t usually eat a lot of potatoes – as they are too carby and we are trying to lose weight – but we’ve been working hard on the boat so we deserved it.

This recipe is supposed to be made with baby potatoes but I didn’t have any – so I just used up some bigger ones – chopped them up into bite sized pieces and left the skin on. Roasted potatoes are so much tastier with the skin on.

This dish crazy simple. Just roast the potatoes in olive oil and while they are roasting, toast some garlic, tear some mint and slice some preserved lemon. When the potatoes are ready, mix in the other three ingredients and serve.

This side was part of the three course Easter Lunch featured in the Telegraph’s Stella Magazine. It caught my eye because it was provided by Diana Henry of A Change of Appetite fame.

Crunchy Fennel Salad with Pomegranate, Mango and Walnuts

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

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.

Orange Salad with Dates, Chillies and Preserved Lemons

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

This dish had potential but it failed for one simple reason. You need sweet ripe oranges. Mine weren’t sweet enough. They were actually pretty bland as oranges go.

I’ll probably give it another go as the concept was good. Sliced oranges, sliced dates, sliced preserved lemons and a red chilli – it should have worked. But I think the addition of orange blossom water made it a little bit too floral – and with the oranges not being sweet Freya felt it was a bit ‘soapy’!

This did take next to no time to make. Just slice up all the ingredients and serve it.

The recipe came from ‘Flavours of the Middle East’ by Ghillie Basan. I don’t own the book – I’ve got way too many already. This book was featured in ‘Eat’ – The Times Magazine recipe section.

A Well Earned Dinner

Posted on April 20, 2014 by tenuoustoaster

Finally I get the time to cook something nice.

It’s fair to say we’ve both been working out butts off on the boat the last few days – and not without one or two sacrifices.

We were supposed to go to the annual Industrial Goth-fest that is Resistanz in Sheffield this weekend but decided the boat came first. We are moving it next Saturday and the boat just isn’t finished. So we’ve been working some very long days – until around 8:30pm and just grabbing a snack or skipping dinner all together.

We said we’d compensated by going Rock’n’Roll dancing at Kicking the Boogie in Uxbridge but that didn’t play out either – Freya got covered in enamel boat paint and I was just exhausted from all the up and downing that is getting in and out of a 1920’s cast iron Dutch Barge.

So this was dinner today: roasted potatoes, orange salad and fennel and mango salad. It was all pretty yummy – apart from the orange salad that had mixed reviews.

All these dishes came from the pull outs of either the Times or the Telegraph. In the past I’ve been disappointed with magazine pullout recipes – they are usually a bit boring. The ones in the Times – Eat I think – are usually taken from a recently released cookbook – so they stand more chance of being a bit more special.

Hopefully I’ll find some time to cook in the next week – but we are both off – trying to get the boat painting finished before we move it to our new mooring. Mind you – if the weather was anything like today, there’ll be no painting. It hammered down all day and didn’t let up.

Anyway – back to my Gin and Cranberry juice!