Tuesday 17 September 2013

Lamb Dhansak

 Taken from the BBC Good Food website with a few tweaks. This recipe really is as good as the takeaway version!

Serves 4
Extra Easy - 0 syns

Ingredients
100g red lentils
500g butternut squash, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 onions roughly chopped
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp turmeric
1½ tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp ground coriander 
4 cardamom pods, squashed
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
400ml stock (chicken, lamb or vegetable)
 400g lean diced lamb
thumb-sized piece root ginger, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 green chillies, sliced (take out the seeds if you don't want it too hot)
small bunch coriander, chopped
1 tsp garam masala 
steamed basmati to serve
Method 
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Put the lentils, squash, onion, turmeric and tinned tomatoes into a sauce pan and pour enough stock to just cover everything. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
3. Spray a pot (that can be used in the oven such as Le Creuset) with frylight and heat. Brown the lamb in batches until it has browned all over. Remove the lamb and add the spices to the pan, then add the ginger, garlic and chillies and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, lamb, lentils and squash and 200ml stock (top up with hot water if short of 200ml).
4. Put the lid on the pot and cook in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes or until the lamb is completely tender and the sauce thickened. Stir in the garam masala and coriander then serve with boiled rice.



Monday 15 July 2013

Chicken and Mushroom Risotto

Serves 2

Extra Easy - 0 syns, HEXa

Ingredients
150g Risotto rice (Arborio)
1 pt Chicken Stock (more if needed)
4 Chicken thigh fillets, chopped into chunks and excess fat removed
Couple of handfuls of Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
4 shallots, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tbsps grated Parmesan (HEXa)
1 tsp thyme
Salt & Black Pepper
Frylight

Method
1. Fry the shallot in a frying pan sprayed with frylight until slightly softened.
2. Add the garlic, mushrooms and chicken, then add the thyme and seasoning and fry until the chicken has whitened. Spray the pan with more frylight if needed and add the rice and stir through.
3. Add a glug of the hot chicken stock at a time, stirring until the liquid has been absorbed by the rice and repeat. Keep doing this until the rice is cooked and the stock has run out. If needed, add more hot water to the pan until the rice is cooked through.
 4. Take it off the heat and stir through half of parmesan. Serve with the remaining parmesan sprinkled on top and a grinding of black pepper.


Monday 28 January 2013

Spiced Mango Cod with Lemon & Spinach Rice

I adapted this from a recipe I found on Tesco's website.

Serves 2

Extra Easy - 1 syn

Ingredients
150ml long grain rice (measured in a measuring jug)
300ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
2 cod fillets
1 tbsp mango chutney
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 red pepper, cut into small chunks
Handful of frozen peas
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp medium curry powder
Finely grated zest of half a lemon
50g spinach (fresh or frozen)
Fat free Natural Yoghurt or 0% Greek Yoghurt (optional)
Lemon wedges (optional)
Frylight
Black Pepper

Method
1. Put the rice and the stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and put a lid on the pan. Leave until the stock has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.
2. Spread the mango chutney onto the top of each cod fillet and sprinkle over the cumin seeds and chilli flakes and season with black pepper. Place onto a foil lined tray sprayed with frylight and place under a medium-hot grill for 10 minutes or until the cod has cooked through.
3. Meanwhile fry the onions and peppers in a frying pan sprayed with frylight until soft. Add the garlic, peas, turmeric, curry powder and lemon zest and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Add the cooked rice and the spinach to the pan, season, and mix well until the spinach has wilted (if using frozen spinach place in the microwave for 2 minutes and drain off any excess liquid before adding it to the pan).
5. Serve the cod on top of the rice and dollop on a tbsp of the natural yoghurt. Serve with the lemon wedges.




Tuesday 22 January 2013

Seafood Paella

Serves 2-3

Extra Easy - 0 syns

Ingredients
200g Paella Rice
Mixed Seafood (prawns, mussels, calamari)
2 Garlic Gloves, finely chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 red onion, sliced
400g tin of chopped Tomatoes
1 pt Fish Stock
Pinch of Saffron
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
Handful of broad beans
Salt & Black Pepper
Frylight

Method
1. Prepare the stock and add the saffron, leave to infuse.
2. Fry the onions and peppers in a flat bottomed frying pan or paella dish sprayed with frylight until soft.
3. Add the garlic and paprika and fry for 1 minute.
4. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Stir in the rice until it is coated in the ingredients and mixed through, then add the mixed seafood to the pan.
6. Pour over the stock and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and cover the pan with tin foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with a sprinkling of parsley to finish the dish.


Monday 14 January 2013

Crab Linguine

A yummy recipe I came up with in order to use up some crab meat I had in the cupboard.

Serves 2

Extra Easy - 0 syns, HEXa

Ingredients
1 tin of Chunky Crab Meat
Half a Red Chilli, finely chopped
2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Spring Onions, chopped
Handful of Tenderstem Broccoli
60g Parmesan, grated
150g Spaghetti/Linguine/Vermicelli 
1 tbsp Pasta water
Frylight
Salt & Black Pepper

Method
1. Cook your chosen pasta according to the packet instructions.
2. Fry the spring onion and broccoli in a frying pan sprayed with frylight until the broccoli has slightly softened. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add the crab meat to the pan and fry for a further minute.
4. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 tbsp of the pasta water and put back into the saucepan. Add the reserved pasta water and half of the Parmesan, along with the spring onion, garlic, chilli and seasoning and combine.
5. Dish into two pasta bowls and sprinkle over the rest of the Parmesan and serve.



Monday 7 January 2013

BBQ Pulled Pork

I received a slow cooker for Christmas and couldn't wait to try out Pulled Pork. This recipe is easy to do and tastes delicious!

Serves 4

Extra Easy - 1 syn per portion

Ingredients
1 Pork Tenderloin or Pork Shoulder (all visible fat removed)
1 tbsp Schwartz BBQ Seasoning
1 white onion, sliced
100ml Chicken Stock
3 tbsps BBQ Sauce (3 syns)
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp Wholegrain Mustard (1.5 syns)
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
Salt & Pepper

Method
1. Rub the BBQ seasoning onto the pork. Put the onion into the bottom of the slow cooker and place the pork on top, then pour in the chicken stock. Set the slow cooker to low and leave for 7 hours.
2. Remove the pork and tear into a chunks using two forks.
3. Combine the rest of the ingredients and stir into the chicken stock and onions. Add the pulled pork to the slow cooker and stir through the sauce. Leave on low for a further hour.