A nice warming Spanish Style Chorizo, Prawn and Chickpea Stew

Calories: approx 291 per person based on 3 sharing. This does NOT include the bread or any extra oil. 

Hello!  Hope you've all had a great day.

Well, today has been a challenge! A very hyperactive, spotty 5 year old hanging off me all day whilst I've tried to work... Roll on bedtime!!

So I wanted something easy and comforting for supper.  I wanted minimal chopping so happily used dried chilli flakes instead of the chilli that is in the fridge (I'll use it for a curry over the weekend) and tinned tomatoes rather than fresh. 

I always have raw king prawns in the freezer as they are a quick, low fat option even with defrosting them. I speed the defrost time up by putting them in water to defrost the ice casing.  I also always have chorizo in the fridge. It's about my most used ingredient. I absolutely love it and it goes in most things I make. I love how it transforms a meal. 

So with those ingredients mind, I thought I'd make a Spanish style prawn stew. I also chucked some chickpeas (storecupboard staple!) in too to bulk it out. I made it up as i went along with nagging  children next to me, so it definitely doesn't require much brain work! 

Ingredients

• Approx 3" piece of chorizo, sliced
• 1 red onion (if you only have white, that's fine), sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes. More or less, if desired. 
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• A couple of splashes of med sweet sherry - prob about 100ml
• 1 tin of tomatoes - Use fresh if you'd like but I simply couldn't be bothered today!
• A large dash of balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained but not rinsed 
• Raw king prawns - we had about 8 each as they were big and we are greedy!!
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)
• My sun dried tomato and olive bread or other crusty bread to serve (optional)

Method

Heat your pan up (dry) until nice and hot. Add the chorizo to the pan and let it release it's fat for a min or 2. Don't let it burn. Turn down the heat to low. Add the sliced onion to the pan and slowly cook.  Add a little salt with the onions to help them cook off a bit quicker. If you need to add a little more oil, feel free to add it. Add the garlic, chilli and oregano to the pan and cook for another 2 mins. Don't let the garlic go brown.  Add the sliced pepper and the sherry.  If you don't have any you could use white wine and then add a spoon of sugar later on with the tomatoes.  Raise the heat and cook for a couple of minutes until the alcohol has cooked off, then lower the heat and cook for a further 5 mins, stirring a few times.

Add the tomatoes and also a tin full of water.  Add the balsamic vinegar (and sugar, if necessary). Season with sea salt and  black pepper. Bring to the boil. 

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Let it cook for approx 40 mins. Keep an eye on it and stir a few times to make sure that it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan.

10 mins before the end of the cooking time, add the chickpeas. About 2 - 3mins before the end of cooking time add the prawns.  Make sure that they have turned thoroughly pink and are nice and hot.

If you have some fresh parsley, sprinkle some on the top and serve.

I served this with my sun dried tomato bread and ate far too much. Also couldn't wait for it to cool down so didn't follow my advice and had it hot with butter melting on it. 

Hope this tickles your fancy!  It is honestly one of the nicest flavours and proper comfort food. And the only fresh ingredient was a pepper so it's v handy too!

If you serve it with lots of bread this would serve 2 adults and 2 little people. 

Pan Fried Sea Bass with Fondant Potatoes, Braised Peas and Salsa Verde

Calories: Approx. 360 not including the salsa verde. Serves 1. Can easily be doubled.
Salsa Verde will yield approx 8 servings (or more if you're less greedy): approx 100 calories per serving.

Evening all,

As promised, here is the recipe for my yummy supper! I had pan fried sea bass with fondant potatoes, braised peas and salsa verde. It was demolished too quickly!

Off for a bath - poorly child and busy day of work has taken it's toll!

Ingredients

• 1 sea bass fillet (per person)
• 1 large knob of butter
• As many potatoes as you need to satisfy your greed, chopped in half, or into very thick slices.
• A handful of peas
• 1 large clove of garlic, peeled and halved.
• Boiling water or veg/ chicken stock - I just used water but do whatever you fancy
• A couple of sprigs or thyme or rosemary - optional

For the salsa verde (just use your common sense on the quantities - I tend to throw things in a bit slap dash!):
I make more than I need and jar it up and have it in the fridge for whenever I need it. I made this a week or so ago and it's still luscious!

• Approx 5/6 anchovies (from a jar)
• Approx 2 tbsp gherkins (pickled)
• Approx 2 tbsp capers
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• Approx 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• A few handfuls of whichever fresh herbs you'd like - I had coriander in the fridge, so I used that.  If I had had basil and parsley, I would have used those. They're more traditional.
• As much extra virgin olive oil as you'd like (or your guilt will allow). You should really use about 8 tbsp but I can't bring myself to use that much.  I actually like mine more tangy and less oily but make it to your own personal taste.  I spoon so much of it onto everything that I wouldn't fit through the front door if I added that much oil...! Anyway, I've always been a vinegar addict...
• Salt and pepper

Method

To make the salsa verde, simply throw all the ingredients except the olive oil into the food processor.  Blitz it until it is finely chopped. Slowly pour the olive oil in and keep pulsing until you have the consistency that you'd like.  I prefer it to have a bit of crunch and not be too smooth. Taste it and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. I then just pop it all in a sterilised jar and leave it in the fridge until you need it.

I put it with fish and also really like it with steak.  I could also happily spoon it straight from the jar to my mouth... Don't judge me ;-)

Next get your fondant potatoes on the go. Melt a large knob of butter in a frying pan and pop your potatoes in the pan on a low heat. Leave them for about 5 mins (may need a bit longer if your potatoes are big). Try to make sure that your potatoes are fairly evenly sized so that they need the same cooking time.  Add enough water or stock to go to about half way up your potatoes (beware, it will spit and sizzle!). Chuck in the garlic and a couple of sprigs of rosemary or thyme if you have some handy. Not essential though.  Cover the pan and leave until the potatoes are cooked through.

A few minutes before your potatoes are ready, melt some butter in a frying pan. While it's melting, put a sprinkling of crushed sea salt on the skin of the sea bass. When the pan is nice and hot put the fillets in, skin side down, and hold them down into the pan so that they stay nice and flat. Reduce the heat and let them cook (without moving them) for about 4 minutes, or until they are cooked most of the way through.  

Check that the skins are nice and crispy and brown and turn them over for another minute or so, until all the flesh is cooked through. Transfer onto warmed plates. 

Add the peas to the pan with the potatoes. There should be a nice thick glaze in the pan now. Put the lid back on and leave them for a few minutes until they are cooked through and covered in the lovely glaze. Plate up with the sea bass, however you fancy!

Finally, get your salsa verde and pop it on top of your fish in as pretty a manner as you can! Mine is never very pretty but it tastes good!

Hope you enjoy it!

My first foray into juicing... Apple, cucumber, kiwi, ginger and lime

Calories: Approx. 166 per person. Serves 1.

Happy Wednesday!

After a massively over-indulgent few days, I thought I would attempt to start my day on a very healthy note and take my first step into the world of juicing.. I fancied something a bit zingy and fresh so I decided to combine the following ingredients.  I thought they would all go together and I, more importantly, had all the ingredients in the house. The result was delicious! Really fresh, zingy and healthy! My daughter has just had chicken pox and my son has now also got it so I thought that I could do with an extra lift whilst there are germs aplenty floating around the house!!

Ingredients

1 apple
1/2 a cucumber
1 kiwi fruit
1/2 a lime
a chunk of ginger*

Method

Just chuck them all in your juicer and enjoy the result! Et voila!

I think I might add a bit of fresh mint next time too. And I might try it with something stronger for a cheeky cocktail some time (maybe not at 9 in the morning though!!).

*A tip! When I buy fresh ginger I never use it all before it starts to go wrinkly and lose it's goodness so I peel it (really finely so you don't lose any of the good stuff) then chop it into chunks, around the size that you would normally use for cooking, pop them in a freezer bag and straight into the freezer.  When you need it, you can grate from frozen and even chop (takes slightly more effort though) and it's as fresh as when you bought it. And no waste. Perfect.

It's Wednesday today so that means the fish man will be coming. Think I'm going to get some sea bass and have it with my home made salsa verde. Yumm. I'll pop the recipe on later...

I'm off to attempt to work whilst looking after my spotty soldier! Enjoy your day, whatever you're up to!

Feta, tomato and basil pancakes

Calories: Approx. 225 per person. Serves 4. Based on using low fat greek salad cheese.

Hi!

As I mentioned yesterday, I went out for lunch with my friend today at the Northumberland Arms. I had seafood Thermidor and Parmesan fries. It was gorgeous! But I definitely ate too much and as I can't actually do any proper exercise at the minute due to a broken toe I seriously need to kerb the calorie intake now!

I'm thinking I'll make a savoury pancake for supper and have it with a green salad dressed simply with some red wine vinegar and Maldon salt. 

Ingredients

I'm going to use a basic pancake batter:

100g plain flour

2 eggs

300mls semi skimmed milk

Pinch of salt 

2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

80g feta cheese, crumbled but not too finely (I actually used low fat Greek salad cheese)

About 8 basil leaves chopped

Chilli flakes to taste

Ground black pepper

Approx. thumb sized piece of chorizo, chopped

This recipe can easily be halved. 

Method

Mix up the pancake batter to a smooth consistency, then add the rest of the ingredients except the chorizo. 

Fry off the chorizo until the fat has rendered.  Remove from the pan and add to the batter. Remove the oil too so that you can use it to fry the pancakes in. If there's not enough, you'll need to add a little extra oil. I used a little fry light to save on calories. 

Add a ladle of batter to the pan. Enough to cover the pan and make a thin pancake (don't make it too thick as it'll be harder to flip over). When it's bubbling check that it's nicely coloured underneath and turn it over.

Fold it up on your plate with your salad and drizzle with some balsamic syrup, if you have it. 

Sorry, I forgot to take a pic before I started tucking in!

Bon appetit!

Yum!!

My Fail-Safe Thai Prawn Salad...

Calories: Approx 129 per person. Serves 2

I am such a lucky girl to live in this great village. Not only is it in the beautiful countryside, home to lots of friends, it also houses The Running Fox (http://runningfoxbakery.co.uk/)- one of the best bakeries/ cafes around. People flock from miles to sample their amazing breads, pies and cakes and their famous afternoon teas. You should see the size of the things - you wouldn't eat for a week (although, i'm so greedy, i'd probably manage!). Today, my friend and I treated ourselves to the dish of the day for lunch- speciality burgers in cheese and pickle rolls. I had the pork and apple burger.  It was completely delicious and there wasn't a morsel left. Yum, yum, yum.  My friend had the beef and stilton burger and judging by her plate, she was equally as pleased with it.  She then had a toffee apple tart and I helped her with it!! I'm salivating as I type.

This doesn't happen very often but I am also going to the other fabulous eatery in the village, The Northumberland Arms for lunch tomorrow. It's a lovely pub and restaurant and it is always fantastic!  http://www.northumberlandarms-felton.co.uk/

How lucky am I?!!

Now to devise a calorie-free supper to counteract my gluttony. Hmmm, think it'll have to be.....

My Fail-Safe Thai Prawn Salad. 

I basically marinate cooked, peeled prawns in a mixture of juice of 1 lime, chilli flakes (I like mine nice and hot!), approx 1 tbsp thai fish sauce, a tsp of sugar, 1 clove of garlic, half a thumb of ginger, some chopped coriander and approx 2 tbsps rice wine vinegar then when they've been soaking for a while (as long as your hunger will allow) use the marinade as a dressing for the salad.  If I have any mango, I like to have that in the salad too - it goes so nicely together. I use a basic salad of loads of baby leaves, cucumber, tomatoes, radishes and the mango. Nothing too fancy as I don't want anything clashing or overshadowing the mango and the marinade.

This is super-fast, super-easy, super-healthy and super-deelish- perfect!

I've calculated that the calories for the marinade, prawns and mango (based on 180g prawns and 1 large mango) are 258 so that's 129 per person. Fab!!

Enjoy!

Update 3rd March 2014

I only had raw prawns tonight so I upped some of the ingredients in the marinade as I knew I'd lose some during the cooking. I also added 3 sliced spring onions. I used 2 limes, a good few splashes (prob about a couple of tbsps) of fish sauce, about the same of rice vinegar, about half an inch if ginger, a heaped tsp sugar, 1 large clove garlic, fresh coriander and loads of chilli flakes. I had some lazy lemongrass and galangal so I added those too. 

I chucked it all in a hot wok and let it cook for as short a time as possible until the prawns were cooked through. Then I put it all on top of my salad and mixed it through. It was fab. So zingy and fresh and good for the soul! Yum, yum, yum. 

The calories would be slightly higher here as I used more lime, fish sauce and vinegar and also the lazy lemongrass is pretty calorific. Still low fat and seriously good for you though!

Sun dried tomato, olive and parmesan bread

Calories: Approx. 171 per serving. Serves approx 13.

Today I had a fab foodie day! No kids, no husband, no plans. A very rare treat.

So, I set about creating a new bread recipe. It is with equal parts delight and despair that my new loaf was absolutely divine! Far too moreish. And far too easy... Need to get my trainers on a bit more if this is going to be a regular addition to my weekly repertoire!

It is made entirely from jars that I always have in my fridge that last for yonks and store-cupboard ingredients. If you don't have some of the ingredients, don't stress, just leave them out!  It's a very adaptable recipe, so have fun inventing your own version!

Anyway...here it is!

Sun dried tomato, olive and parmesan bread 

Ingredients

500g white bread flour

1 tsp salt

7g fast action yeast

2 tsp caster sugar

4 sun dried tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp black olives, chopped

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tbsp oil from the jar of s.d.tomatoes (if using, otherwise use olive oil)

2 tbsp grated Parmesan 

Approx 40g crumbled feta

Approx 300mls tepid water

Method 

Mix yeast and sugar with 100mls of the water 

Mix all other ingredients together and make a well in the centre. Add the water and yeast mixture and combine. Gradually add the rest of the water until you have a sticky but workable consistency. Add more water or flour, as required. 

Knead for about 10 mins until you have a nice soft and smooth dough. It should be a bit springy.  (I use my kenwood and I knead it for about 5 mins).

Leave your dough in a bowl covered with cling film for around an hour or so, in a warm place, until the dough has doubled in size. 

Knock back and knead again (by hand) for a minute. Shape and place in an oiled tin or on a baking sheet. 

Leave to prove for a 2nd time, for around 45 mins-1hr. 

Make 2 or 3 slashes on the top and bake for around 40 mins at 220c/425f/gas7. I

chuck a couple of tbsp water in the bottom of the oven as soon as I put the loaf in (it helps make a lovely crust). Check after 10 mins and lower the temp if it's looking too brown. 

When it's ready it should sound hollow when you tap the bottom of it. 

Leave it to cool on a cooling rack and try not to tuck in until it's cooled. It'll be tough as it smells amazing!!

Enjoy it!! 

The pic is pretty poor, sorry! My sister, husband and I starting demolishing it before I remembered to take a photo!! I reckon you'd get about 13 slices out of it. 

I also made a scrummy, easy one-pan squid and tomato dish that went so well with the bread. Yummy.  Recipe to follow!