Spinach and Lemon Polpette

11th September 2017

...well whatever that means... First day of unemployment meant I had enough time to experiment with something a bit different.

To kick things off, I put the lentils in a pan of water to simmer as this would take some time.

In a large mixing bowl, I measured out some nutmeg, garlic, lemon zest and panko breadcrumbs.

The spinach was dry fried in batches until it had withered and lost most of its moisture. This, along with the drained lentils, was added to the mixing bowl with an egg to bind. It was a bit of a solid mass for my blender to cope with so I had to bind the mixture by hand and wooden spoon. This was seasoned with salt and pepper.

Supposedly this mixture should have made 20 balls... I just about managed 18 and some were very tiny. It was a wet gooey mess to try and roll into balls, but I suppose that means they'll be nice and moist after baking? The balls (polpettes?) were baked for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I put a small pan of spaghetti on and made the sauce. This included lemon zest, garlic, chopped almonds, olive oil, basil and cherry tomatoes. This I could blitz in the blender, but it turned out much runnier than expected despite following the quantities pretty precise. In fact less tomatoes were used.

It wasn't exactly pesto textured, but it wasn't too runny once it was mixed up. It was very garlicky, however. Mmmmm.

The spaghetti was drained and plated up, topped with a few of the balls.

I dolloped some of the tomato sauce on top to finish. It was very interesting and different and I was very pleased with how the polpette turned out.

Summer Wellness Bowl

29th August 2017

Another wellness/goodness bowl full of good things and it tasted amazingly healthy whilst being jam packed full of things.

These are so easy to make, and can be different every single time. A Modern Way to Cook  has lists to pick a grain/pulse, 2-4 seasonal veg, something to boost flavour, a dressing, herbs and something to texture.

I started with some lentils which I cooked in vegetable stock. I bulked this out with a mixture of kidney beans and cannellini beans for extra protein.  The veg I chose was grated carrot and tomatoes, with spring onions for flavour. 

With a bit of rocket and mixed toasted seeds, topped with tahini dressing, this salad bowl was very nourishing and healthy and provided a great crunch and flavour for lunch time.

Chilli Green Beans with Paneer

10th August 2017

Paneer is a personal favourite so I wasn't turning this page in a hurry.

Firstly, the onion and garlic was chopped and added to a pan of hot coconut oil to gently fry on a medium heat. Meanwhile, the green beans were topped and tailed and chopped in half.

Cumin, turmeric, chilli powder and dried coriander were added to the pan and fried with the onions and garlic. Chopped salad tomatoes and ginger were added in next for another few minutes before the green beans, honey and lemon juice were thrown in too and coated with the spices.

To prevent the veg drying out, I splashed a bit of cold water in which also helps cook the beans a little quicker.

Once everything is thoroughly covered in spices and the water has mostly evaporated, add in the chilli and paneer cubes to coat with the tomato and spices. Season well with salt and pepper and serve with rice or flatbread if you fancy something extra.

In the Meantime..

Various dates in May 2017

In between the other recipes in May, I made a couple of quick things.

The first was vanilla and camomile cupcakes which can be found in an earlier blog post here: http://cookingwithgingers.blogspot.com/2015/04/camomile-vanilla-cupcakes.html

There wasn't a lot of difference with this batch other than I made the cupcakes smaller and go further. I think this was probably the most successful batch of butter icing actually. The consistency was beautiful and there was the perfect amount to cover all the cupcakes fully.

I also made a couple of stir-frys from the mix and match pages from A Modern Way To Cook. This provides lists of ingredients under the headings "greens", "crunchy", "sweet", "carbs" etc. which allows personal taste and preference in creating wholesome meals.

In my favourite combination so far, I used broccoli, sweet potato, tofu, sugar snap peas, vermicelli noodles, chilli and sesame. It was pretty high in calories but really tasty and across the board healthy.

Quinoa and Pearl Barley Risotto

23rd May 2017

I'm not sure if I made this correctly or not. I mean, I made it like the recipe said, but it ended up being way more than the 4-6 portions suggested and it was very oniony. Still, pretty good.

First, the leeks were finely chopped and gently fried in coconut oil until slightly browned.

The quinoa and pearl barley were added along with some lemon juice and vegetable stock. This was simmered for around 20 minutes, when most of the liquid was absorbed and the grains were tender.

Petit pois and spring greens were stirred in and cooked briefly. Finally, the small cubes of feta went into the mix along with salt and pepper for seasoning and topped with basil. This lasted me over a week of meals, and was very filling and nutritious. However, I was very ready for a change of lunch by the time I got to the last portion. Note to self: sometimes I eat way less than a recipe suggests!

Black Eyed Bean Stew with Herb Smash

30th April 2017

I'm really into spicy food right now so I quite fancied giving this one a go. 

To start, the leek was chopped very finely and fried gently in some coconut oil. After a few minutes, chilli and garlic were added too. I included some mushrooms and courgette for additional veggie goodness. 

When the veg was beginning to brown, the black eyed beans and passata were added to the pan along with the juice from half a lemon. I chopped the remains of the lemon into segments and put them in the pan for flavour whilst the stew simmered. 

Meanwhile, I made the "herb smash". Fresh coriander, green chillis, garlic, honey, sunflower oil and lemon juice were put into a blender and blitzed together. Chopped walnuts went in next for a light blitz to create a smooth green paste. Although I perhaps put in too much oil since it was a little on the runny side. I also stirred in extra pine nuts for good measure. 

Finally, once the passata had reduced significantly, I mixed in chopped spinach for the last couple of minutes. 

This was served in a bowl with the herby dressing on top, along with some pitta bread. Despite the three chillis in here, it wasn't spectacularly spicy. I will have to add extra chilli flakes when I reheat the rest. Really need that spice kick at the moment!

Quinoa, Plantain and Flapjack - Welcome back!

27th March 2017

Hi blog-face!! It's been again. I've been so bad at quick starchy meals lately. I just got back from a week in Italy and boy do I need to purge my body and eat vegetables again. 

I've been using my newest cook book lately (insert name) which has tonnes of recipe trees to create salad and goodness bowls. This is an excellent idea and means you can work from the same page for multiple meals. 

But tonight I tried something a little Caribbean. I miss the Caribbean!

To start I weighed out the quinoa, adding twice as much water and a stock cube and left it to summer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile the tin of black eye beans was put in a pan with some chilli powder and cinnamon and slowly boiled off the liquid. And in a larger pan, the leeks and mushrooms were sautéed.

Next I peeled and stoned the avocados and mashed them in a bowl with lime juice and chilli powder. Once the beans had reduced down I mashed these slightly in another bowl. 

Finally the plantains were peeled and sliced and gently fried on either side. I've had plantains before and they were super sweet and soft, but mine just got harder. I added a little water and salt to the pan to soften and flavour it a bit. It mostly had the texture of potato than banana. Maybe I need to try this again for the sweeter flavour. 

Dinner was assembled with the quinoa in the bottom, a spoonful of beans and leeks, topped with some plantains and finally the guac. It was quite tasty overall, and very different to anything I'd made before which was exciting. I realised it was 100% vegan also which was an added surprise.

But also, let me tack onto this post the flapjacks I made for the work bake sale the other week. Far beyond healthy I made double quantities, meaning there was 500g butter and 500g sugar in one large pan and I almost had a heart attack looking at it! I made an orange marmalade flapjack, so added some orange zest and juice to the mixture, and finally drizzled marmalade syrup all over the top for a beautifully sticky topping. 

Slightly Spiced Sweet Potato and Chickpea Quinoa

 17th January 2017

Remaining on the health kick this week also and exploring my new cookbook. I'm working my way through the "15 minute meals" which do take closer to 30 minutes...so who knows how long the 30 minutes - 1 hour will take when we get there!

To start, I fried some jumbo spring onions in some coconut oil. Small cubes of sweet potato and carrot was added to the pan and fried for 5 minutes, then went in the chickpeas and turmeric which was all fried for a little while longer.

Meanwhile the quinoa was added to a pan of boiling water with a stock cube and left to simmer until all the liquid was gone. Today I figured out that a 1:2 ratio of quinoa to water makes the best quinoa.

The creamed coconut was dissolved in a jug of boiling water, which was then stirred in with the veg and left to simmer.

Finally, the spring greens were added to the pan and cooked for a few minutes until soft. This was served out on top of the quinoa. It was a deliciously mild coconuty dinner that fed me for a few days. I might be back on board with quinoa!

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Later in the week I used up the remaining sweet potatoes by baking them and having them with soft cheese and veg. I'm enjoying being healthy again!

Spicy Cauliflower, Paneer and Pea Rotis

9th January 2017

I enjoyed rotis so much whilst in Barbados last summer, that I'm not sure why its taken this long to make my own. I used another recipe from my new book which was exciting and it was different yet just as nice as the Bajan rotis.

To start I fried a bunch of spring onions in coconut oil. Which was fine. And then I screwed up the recipe a little. I added the frozen peas to the pan (which I shouldn't have done) in a bid to save on the washing up. When these were thawed and cooked I tipped out the whole lot and attempted to mash them as per the recipe. I think the spring onions should have been kept separate.

The mashing failed somewhat, so I just stirred in the chilli, coriander and lemon juice in a separate bowl and put to one side.

More coconut oil was added to the pan along with small cauliflower florets, turmeric and curry powder. Next I threw in cubes of paneer cheese to fry until the veg was softened.

I warmed up the rotis in the microwave and then added the curried cheese and veg, topped with the pea and chilli mix and finally some freshly chopped mint and coriander. It was the perfect post-gym tea.

One Pot Spaghetti

4th January 2017

Happy New Year!! Its January and therefore its time for a health kick and therefore better cooking and more exercise. I've started the year with all the gym classes and I have a brand new pan and a brand new cook book for dinner inspiration: A Modern Way To Cook by Anna Jones. This first recipe is from page 1.

The first instruction was to put the spaghetti, cherry tomatoes, lemon zest and juice in a pan with a litre of water, some oil and salt. This was brought to the boil and left to simmer for a short time. I added some mushrooms also.

Once the pasta had begun to soften, I added handfuls of kale at a time and stirred it into the spaghetti pot. This was cooked with the lid off to allow the water to continue to boil off. 

This was absolutely easy peasy to do and was served out as soon as the water was pretty much all gone. I topped the pasta with some fresh basil. Despite being a recipe for 4-6, I ended up with 7 portions and will be eating spaghetti for a week! Delicious.