Potato and sweet potato bakes with courgette, onion and ham

 These are the second part of the healthy snacks, as with the veggie option, they are great hot or cold, warmed under the grill or fried until crispy!

Ingredients

1 large old potato
1 large sweet potato
2 onions
4 cloves garlic
1 courgette
teaspoon mustard powder
1 packet of ham of your choice
two pinches of vegetable stock
1 pork stock cube
1 egg
a good handful of flat leaf parsley and sage, finely chopped
A sprinkling of Ras el Hanout seasoning
Frylight

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180C

Peel and boil the potatoes, once soft, drain and mash.  I use a potato ricer to get lovely smooth mash.  While the potatoes are cooking, peel and chop the onion and garlic then sautee both together in frylight until the onion is nicely caramelized.

Top and tail the courgette, then grate.  Add the cooked onion to the mix and mix together, then add the mash and give the whole lot a good mix so the courgette is cooked by the heat from the onion and mash.

Trim the fat off the ham and chop into smallish chunks, then add this to the vegetables and add the stock and stock cube and a little lemon juice. Mix well and add the egg and mix that in.

Make the whole mix into patties and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 20 mins, turning once.

Eat with your choice of salad.

Potato and Sweet potato goujons

 This is a variation on an earlier recipe, but just as nice!  They are lovely hot or cold and can be warmed up on the grill or on the frying pan as you wish.

Ingredients

half a large new Potato
half a large Sweet potato
1 Onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Egg
Half a teaspoon mustard
Half a teaspoon veg stock

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.  Peel the sweet potato and scrub the new potato, leaving the skin on.  Boil both potato and sweet potato, then drain over chopped onion and crushed garlic.  Leave to cool for a few minutes, then mash all of it.

Add the stock powder, mustard and egg and a good handful of chopped parsley (or any other herb you have to hand!).  

Shape them into rough shaped goujons on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, then roast until nicely browned, which should take between 15 and 20 minutes.

Asian low fat style dressing

 As I've started slimming world again it's time for the healthy, reduced fat recipes.  This one is for an Asian style low fat salad dressing - very pleased with the results!

Ingredients

1 lemongrass stalk
White balsamic vinegar (or as the term is "White Condiment"
A quarter teaspoon of Dijon mustard
Half a teaspoon of sweet chilli sauce
Half a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil

Method

Top and tail the lemon grass stalk, then chop it into smallish chunks - don't worry about keeping everything the same, it really doesn't matter.  

Now add the lemongrass to a small jug thst can be used with a hand blender, just cover it with the white balsamic vinegar, add the chilli sauce, mustard and olive oil and blend until smooth.

Leave for 10 mins, then strain with a fine sieve.  Goes really well with dressed crab mixed with a little tarragon, mint and Quark. 

Summer green salad

 I made this last weekend and it went down a storm so I thought I'd add it here.

Ingredients

• Three or four good handfuls of fresh peas
• Same again for broad beans
• 1 small fennel bulb
• A selection of lettuce leaves, washes and dried - Frisee would be ideal but I can't get that very often
• 1 orange
• A small handful of mint

Method

Shell the peas and cook for 1 minute in boiling water, drain and reserve the boiled water, then refresh with cold water.

Split the peas into two parts, leave one to cool fully for the salad and make the other half into a smooth puree with the mint, a small amount of the reserved water and a small pinch of vegetable stock.  Leave to cool.

Pod the beans and remove the green outer shell from the beans.  You don't have to do this but the shell tastes very bitter so it's worth it.  It takes a little time but it's easy to do.  Boil the beans for 1 minute and drain, refreshing with cold water to keep the colour.

Peel the orange and remove the outer pith and central core, then divide into eight or ten segments and chop these into three bit size pieces.

Slice the fennel thinly (a mandoline works well for this) and boil for 1 minute to soften but leave a bite.

To plate up, put a two or three spoonfuls of the puree on the plate, add the broad beans and fennel before scattering the lettuce over the top.  Now arrange the orange and peas and serve.

I served mine with crushed new potatoes and spatchcocked chicken marinaded with lemon, garlic, rosemary and a little olive oil roasted at 180 C until cooked through.

Japanese style seafood salad

 

I made this for a quick evening meal for 2, it takes about 30 minutes in total and doesn't involve much work.  I used 8 fresh king prawns, shells still on.  I also used a small piece of tuna.

Ingredients

• 8 raw king prawns in their shells
• 1 small piece of fresh tuna
• Half a teaspoon of sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon mirim
• Half a cucumber
• 1 banana shallot
• Soba noodles for 2

Method

1. First, prepare the prawns, take the heads and the shells off and add them to a pan, cover with water and boil for 10-15 minutes.  Strain the water into another pan and discard the shells.
2. Reduce the bisque to almost dry, then add half a teaspoon of sesame oil, followed by 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and 2 teaspoons of mirim and mix well.
3. Peel and slice the shallots thinly and soak in cold water for 8 minutes, this removes the acidity.  Drain and squeeze out the water.
4. Wash the prawns and cut the tuna and prawns into bite size pieces.
5. Prepare the noodles as per instructions - mine were covered with boiling water and left for 5 minutes, then drained.
6. While the noodles are prepared, add the prawns and tuna to a warmed pan and cook gently on a medium high heat until just cooked through.  Drain the fish and add the cooking liquor to the sauce.
7. Now prepare the cucumber, cut in half lengthways, remove the seeds and then slice into 2mm half moons.
8. Add everything together except the dressing and mix well, then dd the dressing and give it another mix and serve.

Mushroom and shallot burgers

 It's January so time to start the diet - again!  I thought it was useful to try and make a burger that was healthy, low fat and do away with the bread, so here we are, the mushroom and shallot burger!

Ingredients for 2 burgers

250g 5% fat minced beef
2 mushrooms, finely chopped
3 small shallots, finely chopped
1 dessert spoon tomato puree
Some herbs of your choice - I used flat leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
2 small glugs of Worcester sauce
½ teaspoon truffle oil

To serve

2 large flat field mushrooms, stalks removed
Handful of lettuce leaves
A couple of cherry tomatoes

Method

Fry the mushrooms, shallot and garlic in a pan until soft but not coloured.  I use Frylight, but feel free to use oil if you prefer.  Put to one side and leave to cool.  Once warm, add the tomato puree, beef, herbs Worcester sauce and truffle oil and mix well.

Heat the grill to high and toast the field mushrooms on both sides until cooked to your preference.  Form the meat mix into two patties and grill, turning once, until slightly browned on each side.

Server the burger on a field mushroom with some lettuce and tomatoes.

Diced beef with peppers, red onion, garlic, porcini mushroom, roasted new potatoes and green salad

 I made this lunch dish to use up some leftover roast beef - it disappeared so quickly I didn't managed to get a photo!

Ingredients

some (any amount really) leftover beef, diced into 1cm cubes
A few slices of red onion
2 cloves of garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped
A red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped into 1cm dice
A small handful of Porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes
Olive oil for frying or equivalent (I use Frylight)
2 New potatoes, cut into 1cm dice
Sweet Paprika
Spanish vinegar

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C .Cook the potatoes first: boil the dice for 5 mins in some salted water. Line a baking tray with greaseproof baking parchment, spray with a little olive oil then arrange the potatoes so they don't touch each other. Give them another spray with the oil and roast for 30 mins until cooked and golden on the outside.  

While the potatoes are roasting, heat a couple of teaspoons of oil in a pan then add the red onion, peppers and garlic and fry until they're just cooked through - it's fine if they're a little underdone as this will give a nice bite to the salad. Remove with a slotted spoon and put them on a plate.

Drain the mushrooms, keeping a little of the liquid behind, then add them to the same pan with the beef on a high heat to flash fry them.  Add a little of the mushroom water and a teaspoon of vinegar to the pan and coat the mushrooms and beef.  

Once this is cooked and the potatoes are done, add the meat and potatoes to the peppers, onions and garlic. Now sprinkle about half a teaspoon of sweet paprika and mix well.  Season with salt, pepper and more vinegar to taste, then serve on a bed of green salad.