Roast Chicken and Bulghar Wheat Salad

A summery take on a simple roast chicken - using sage from our garden, lemon zest, garlic and butter as flavour. Eaten with this courgette and bulghar wheat salad, an extra smattering of pine nuts and some cooling, garlicky tzatiki.


To make the taztiki, I grated a cucumber, salted it and left it to drain for 15-30mins. Squeeze out the excess water (there should be a lot), tip into a bowl and mix with greek yoghurt, finely chopped garlic and a little lemon juice. Finish with black pepper and a drizzle of oil.

This is perfect summer eating, there's no pressure to serve it piping hot, indeed it's better lukewarm and eaten casually outside. In fact, you could joint the chicken and BBQ it instead, swapping the butter for olive oil. I'm a fan of uncomplicated BBQs - making one great piece of meat the star so you don't spend hours cooking burgers and sausages. We're recently had success with a huge leg of lamb, marinaded overnight, cooked briefly in the oven and then finished on the BBQ. Sliced thinly and eaten in pittas with tazatiki and tomato salsa - that's my kind of BBQ.
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A New Ready Meal...

I can't remember the last time I bought a ready meal. Seriously. I'd rather eat a boiled egg and soldiers or beans on toast or a bowl of ice cream for my tea. Not only are they expensive, but they are generally pretty unappetising affairs.

But now, Innocent have gone and brought out their veg pots, I'm not sure where they're aimed exactly, but I'm thinking a healthy alternative to crappy shop bought sandwiches, pumped full of salt and fat. One of these little pots is 3 portions of veg, and a smoothie is 2 portions of fruit; so eat both and you get your 5-a-day. Clever, huh?

Anyway, I digress. The point of this post is that my firend who works at Innocent got me some for cheap and I set about thinking of ideas to tart one up for dinner. Of course, I would happily heat one up and eat it on it's own, straight from the pot, no need for washing up. But, I think with a little effort, you could use one as a base for a really taste meal. All the hard work making it tasty and cramming it with vegetables has been done for you; all you need to do is spruce it up and think about adding some protein (they're all vegetarian). See what other people have come up with here.

First up is the Sweet Potato Chilli - 'a spicy hearty stew of sweet potatoes, red peppers and smoky paprika'. I used it as a base for a mexican-esque wrap. Take one warm tortilla, dollop on some warm chilli and top with diced avocado, red onion, a splodge of yoghurt and some fresh coriander. You could stop here, wrap it up and enjoy (with lots of napkins) or go further and grate on some cheese and top with a fried egg, or some chorizo or chicken or steak...

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Lamb meatballs and couscous

Nigella comes up trumps again, although I have to say this is from her book rather than the TV show. It seems everyone is quick to criticise anything she does on TV, and while she does verge on the ridiculous much of the time, I think her genuine greed and love of food is really very endearing.

You also cannot escape the fact that she cooks delicious food, every single recipe book is crammed with recipes, all delicous and generally all guaranteed to work. So this is a recipe from Feast (possibly one of my favourites in terms of abundance of recipes, beautiful pictures and a good range of food).

The dinky lamb meatballs are served with the root vegetable stew that I've made many times before and eat happily with some couscous alone. We decided to go the whole hog this time and make the meatballs complete with all of Nigella's suggested adornings, namely pomegranate seeds and coriander.


I piled the couscous and stew high on a plate, with meatballs atop and the pomegranate seeds and coriander sprinkled over. Definitely a dish for bringing forth whilst entertaining. I know some people are not convinced by pomegranate, my dining partner included, but I think they work perfectly as not only a beautiful jewel pink topping that goes particularly well with the vibrantly green coriander, but also as a sweetly sharp contrast in many savoury dishes like this one and this one.

The lamb meatballs were of course delicious, I'm a big fan of using meat like this, i.e. making them into little meatballs and serving with a hearty vegetable stew so that it's healthier but also goes farther. They are also perfect stuffed into a pitta with hummus and salad

Ingredients (adapted from Feast)

500g minced lamb
½ onion, pureed or chopped very finely
½tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
3tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten

Mix the onions into the lamb.
Sprinkle over the spices and breadcrumbs and mix well.
Stir in the beaten egg, cover and leave for 30mins to allow the flavours to meld.
Using about ½tsp mince, roll into small balls and drop into a hot pan.
Continue rolling, dropping and cooking, shaking the pan every so often, you want to cook the meatballs for about 5mins until golden on all sides and cooked through (this will depend on how big your balls are).

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Roast Parsnip and Chickpea Salad

A really simple salad I learnt at pieceofplenty that does something a bit different with parsnip and carrots. Yoghurt and parsley goes perfectly with the spicy oily chickpea and roast parsnip salad. Eat with hummus, pitta and some green leaves.

Serves 4 as a side dish

4 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks (works equally well with carrots)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2tsp smoked paprika
1tsp dried chilli (depending on how hot you like it!)
3tbsp olive oil
1 can chickpeas, drained
squeeze lemon juice

To serve:
1 bunch chopped parsley, finely chopped
greek yoghurt

• Lay the parsnip out on a roasting try.
• Sprinkle over the garlic, chilli and parpika and season well.
• drizzle over the oil, stir the parsnips and make sure thay are well coated in the oily spice mixture.
• Roast at 200C for 20-30mins until soft and brown around the edges.
• Tip into a bowl with the chickpeas, add the lemon juice ans stir well, you might want to add a little more oil.
• Stir in half the parsley and serve the rest sprinkled on top.
• That's it! eat with a dollop of greek yoghurt

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Simple Chickpea Stew

This is simplicity itself. I wanted something vaguely healthy (chickpeas count as a portion of your 5-a-day) that was comforting, ideally eaten from a bowl with enough sauce to soak into some carbohydrate, my choice being couscous. A dollop of yoghurt on top (I love yoghurt) and you're away.

This is basically, onions, garlic chilli, paprika, ground coriander and chickpeas simmered with chopped tomatoes for about 20mins and that's it! I like to always have chopped parsley around and its a nice contrast of green, but definitely not necessary, it also occurred to me that some toasted flaked almonds might add some texture, maybe next time.

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 onions, diced (or sliced if you prefer)
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 chilli, finely chopped
1tsp smoked paprika
2tsp ground coriander
½tsp vegetable stock powder (bouillon), optional
2 cans chickpeas, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes

• Fry the onions, garlic and chilli over a low heat for 5-10mins until the onions are completely soft.
  
• Stir in the spices and fry until they release their pungent aroma.
• Pour in the chickpeas and stir well so that each chickpea is coated in the spice mixture
• Add the tomatoes. fill the empty can about half way with water, swill and pour into the pan.
• Add the bouillon powder and stir. Allow the mixture to simmer happily for about 15mins, after which taste and check for seasoning. You may need to add a little bit more water and/or paprika and ground coriander.
• Serve with couscous, yoghurt, and chopped parsley.
  

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Split Pea Soup

I'm a big fan of pulses. They're cheap as chips and count as one of your 5-a-day, hurray! Recently, as our unspectacular summer grinds to an end, I've been hankering after soup and when I think of soup, split pea soup is one of the first to spring to mind.

The only version I've ever made is from the fabulous Cranks, split pea soup flavoured with some aromatic cumin, with fried mushrooms and spinach stirred in at the end, dolloped with limey yoghurt. Make this once and you will see why I've never veered from it before.

Whilst contemplating the soup however, I did a little recipe browsing and have since found that you can do pretty much whatever you fancy to the soup, here's a very basic recipe, and one with olives and raita added on top, I've bookmarked this version for next time.

In the end I started out sticking to the Cranks version, but decided to blend in the spinach at the end, do away with the mushrooms and lime and just add a spoon of yoghurt, some peppery olive oil and some paprika for smoky depth.

As with most soups, this is perfect for making in a big old pot and freezing leftovers. I made half the below amount and it was all gone disappointingly fast. Being at home all weekend, means there are plenty of opportunities to heat up a little bowl for a snack...

Ingredients

Makes 6-8 portions

500g split peas (yellow or green depending on your colour preference)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red chilli, chopped
1tbsp cumin seeds (ground cumin will do)
1.5litres hot vegetable stock
100g spinach
250g yoghurt
smoked paprika to serve

• Pour the split peas into a large bowl, cover with twice the volume of water and leave overnight to soak.
• The next day... Fry the onions with a little in large saucepan over a medium heat. Once softened, add the chilli, garlic and cumin, sizzle for a few minutes more.
• Drian the split peas and rinse, tip them into the pan with the onions and stir well to coat in the aromatic oil.
• Pour in the hot vegetable stock and allow it to boil vigorously for about 10mins, scraping off the frothy scum that rises to the surface.
• Turn the heat down and simmer for about 30mins until the peas collapse.
• Add the spinach to the pan, cover and let it wilt in the pan.
• Once the spinach is wilted, use a hand blender to blend the soup until smooth, be careful not to overblend, you still want flecks of green against the yellow background. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve with a big dollop of yoghurt, a drizzle of oil and a sprinkling of paprika.

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Mackerel with a Lentil and Yoghurt Salad

This is loosley based on a Jamie Oliverrecipe, he does pan-fried salmon with puy lentils dressed with garlic, lemon juice, oil and lots of herbs, some spinach stirred in and wilted; with yoghurt drizzled over the top. I've made this before and its delicious, I could eat a big bowl of the garlicky lentils all on their own, and I tend to put yoghurt on most things so its always a plus.

I had this recipe in mind when I took some mackerel out of the freezer for dinner. However, I decided to do a slightly different lentil salad that I came up with working at Piece of Plenty. This has a slight Arabian influence if you will, lentils dressed with garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, ground corinader and cumin, with lots of red onion, this is left to macerate, allowing the flavours to sink in. Its drizzled with yoghurt, and flecked with chopped parsley and pomegranate seeds to serve.

This is a perfect lunch all by itself, but it went particularly well with the mackerel, the freshness of the yoghurt, parsley and pomegranate really cut through the oiliness of the fish.

I used to make this with thin slices of red onion, but they can get a bit soggy if you leave it for a few days, so I think finely diced onions work better. If you're going to eat it all in one go, then the thin slices are good.

Serves 4

4 mackerels, filleted
150g puy lentils or lentilles vertes
1 lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 bunch parsley, chopped
250g yoghurt
pomegranate seeds to serve

• Season the yoghurt, add the juice of ½ lemon, stir and leave until ready to eat.
  
• Cover the lentils with water in a pan, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 5mins, then turn the heat to low and simmer for 20-30mins until soft, don't add salt to the water, otherwise they'll turn into hard little bullets.
  
• Drain, return to the pan and whilst still hot dress with the olive oil, the juice of the remaining ½ lemon, ground coriander, cumin, garlic and salt and pepper.
• Then, stir in the red onions.

(This can all be done in advance, just re-heat the lentils before serving. They are still exquisite eaten at room temperature also)

• Drizzle olive oil over the mackerel with some seasoning and rub into the flesh.
• Heat a pan until smoking hot, and fry the mackerel for 3mins on each side.
• To serve sprinkle the pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley over with a dollop of the yoghurt dressing and enjoy!

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The Loveliest Daal

A lovely bowl of soft comforting daal. Eat with rice and naan. Counts as one of your 5-a-day too. Its worth making loads of this as it lasts really well and freezes superbly.

Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
small piece ginger, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
½ tsp turmeric
2tsp ground coriander
2tsp ground cumin
1tbsp curry powder
500g daal
4tbsp creamed coconut
1½tsp sugar
1tsp salt
1litre vegetable stock

Cook the onions in a little oil for 5mins, then add the garlic and chilli and cook for a further few mins. Next add the spices, allow to sizzle a bit and add your lentils. Stir to make sure the spicy mixture coats the daal, add the creamed coconut, salt, sugar and stock. Simmer gently for 30mins at least... its hard to say how long it will takes, it all depends on the daal you use. I didn't soak my lentils and they took about 45mins. Just keep an eye on them and add extra water as necessary. Remember that they will continue to absorb water as they cook so you probably want to end up with a slightly runny sauce. Read more...

Yoghurt Cake

This is possibly the easiest recipe for a cake ever, and perhaps my favourite cake. The idea is you use a small carton of yoghurt to flavour the cake and then use the empty carton to measure the rest of the ingredients. Genius! no scales, no cups. Using oil and yoghurt also means that the cake in wonderfully moist and lasts for days, although what cake ever last for days?

Also, as this recipe is so easy to make, its perfect to make with children.

Below is the basic recipe.

Yoghurt Cake

• 1 individual pot of yoghurt
• 1 pot of flavourless oil
  
• 2 pots of sugar
• 3 pots of self raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Whisk the yoghurt, oil and sugar together. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Stir in the dry ingredients. Transfer to a lined cake tin and bake at 180°C for 30-40mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

The beauty of this recipe is that there are endless variations, both with the flavour of yoghurt, icing and shape of tin used. I like to use a Black Cherry yoghurt, baked in a loaf tin for a delicately flavoured plain tea cake. This also works very well if you substitute one carton measure of flour for ground almonds.


I made this cake to use up some blueberries that were past their best in the fridge. I followed the recipe using plain yoghurt, and 1 carton measure of ground almonds instead of 1 measure of flour. I then stirred the blueberries in at the end before baking.


I made this cake for my sister's birthday. I used raspberry yoghurt and baked it in sandwich tins, then filled it with fresh raspberries and mascarpone mixed with icing sugar. I like to use mascarpone as a cheat's (and a fatty's) version of whipped cream as it only needs gently beating with a wooden spoon to look like whipped cream. Read more...