Lamb and flagelot bean stew (serves 5, prep time: 15 mins, cooking time: 90 mins)

This is very comforting and tasty as the nights draw in and the temperatures decline. I love to cosy up with a tasty, warming stew!

400g lamb rump steak, diced
2 medium-sized onions, diced finely
3 cloves garlic, sliced finely

Worcestershire sauce

150ml red wine

300ml stock

400g chopped tomatoes (1 tin)

800g flagelot beans (2 tins)
2 large carrots, diced
250g mushrooms, diced
1 celeriac, peeled and diced
1 tbsp tomato puree
Fresh thyme (salt & pepper if desired)



Roll the lamb rump in seasoned flour and fry it (in a non-stick frying pan with olive oil) until browned. 

At the same time, in a large stainless steel stewpot, sweat the onion over a gentle heat for 5 minutes, adding the garlic partway through.

When the lamb pieces are all browned, add those to the stewpot, too. Splash some Worcestershire sauce over the meat and allow the onion, garlic and lamb to infuse for a minute or two before adding the red wine, stock and tomatoes. 
Stir well.
Allow to cook for 5 minutes. Then add the beans, carrots, mushrooms and celeriac. 
Squirt in the tomato puree and add the fresh thyme and seasoning.

Simmer gently on the stove top for between and hour and and hour and a half to allow all the flavours to infuse. 

Strawberry cake - wheat free, sugar free, delicious

It was my son's dad's birthday and we decided to make a cake. I asked what kind of cake we should make. The answer... strawberry cake with purple icing. 
I don't recommend the icing, but the strawberry cake was good! It's wheat free, whole grain, sugar free and strawberries have a fair amount of fibre from the seeds.

200g organic stoneground, wholegrain spelt flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100g organic unsalted butter (at room temperature)
100ml agave nectar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
A splash of milk
400g fresh strawberries, halved with stalks removed


Mix together the flour and baking powder in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, blend together the soft butter and agave nectar. I used a hand blender.  When blended into a creamy paste, add the egg and vanilla paste and mix thoroughly.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/agave/egg /vanilla mixture, stirring continuously. If it starts to look dry, add a splash of milk if desired. The final mixture should be thick and gloopy, not runny but also not dry with powdery bits visible.

Put the cake mixture into a greased 8" baking dish. Put the strawberries on the top.

Bake in the oven at 160 degrees for 1 hour. Keep an eye on it so the strawberries don't burn!

in the oven

cooked   - with purple icing

The joy of Nasi Goreng!

The other day I looked in my fridge and it was full of leftovers. This joyous recipe turned all my leftovers into a really tasty dish (this is enough just for one person):


1/2 small white onion, diced
1 carrot, cut into julienne strips
a handful of mushrooms, sliced
tail end of a butternut squash, diced
1 garlic clove, sliced
1/4 scotch bonnet chilli
1 cup brown rice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 egg

Over a medium-low heat, fry the onion, mushroom, butternut squash and carrot in a little sesame oil until soft (about 5 minutes)
Add the garlic and chilli and fry for a further minute. 
Add the rice, soy sauce, more sesame oil, mint and coriander and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Finally, crack the egg into the frying pan and stir until the egg has cooked.

Serve and enjoy! It's so tasty and satisfying. 

Experiments in the kitchen

In recent weeks I have been experimenting in the kitchen.

I'm working on a bean burger recipe and haven't quite cracked it yet - the flavour is good but the texture isn't right.

I made a mushroom stew which has a lovely flavour but is  a bit too delicate.  It needs a bit more oomph.

Today I am cooking up a storm, creating an aubergine and mozarella tomato bake. It's about 30 degrees outside and this is a very wintry dish, but I felt in need of comfort food!

I found a US website dedicated to unprocessed food and daily recipes. It's really inspiring to find a fellow non-processed foodie out there. The blog is called 100daysofrealfood and is much bigger and slicker than mine. The recipes rely on US ingredients but are worth checking out. There is some good information on there about what constitutes a whole grain, for example.

I have changed my cheesy leek bake recipe which I will update on here as well as a crunchier flapjack which I am very pleased with.

So there's lots going on but nothing solid to post yet. My blog is a collection of good recipes, and not all the steps I take along the way so bear with me whilst my experiments continue :)

hot plum heaven!

I have just invented a small bowl of heaven. It's probably not low GI but probably could be with the addition of an oaty crumble topping. 

5 plums, quartered and de-stoned
100ml red wine (I used old wine)
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 star anise
1 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Put it all in a pan on the stove and simmer gently, with a lid on, for an hour, stirring occasionally. 

I ate the hot plums with cold, creamy natural yoghurt and it was d-i-v-i-n-e! I would share a photo but I ate it all before I thought about my camera. 

Next time - and there will definitely be a next time! -  will put oats on top, mixed with flaked almonds or whole toasted almonds (both of which I seem to be addicted to and which is okay because they are really good for you) to lower the Glycemix Index rating. 

happy poaching :)

Lentil and chickpea curry (Serves: 3, Preparation: 25 minutes, Cooking: 25 minutes)

The lovely thing about this recipe (apart from the fact that it tastes really moreish) is that you can change the contents to change the flavour profile. Cauliflower goes really well, for example. In fact, you may notice that in the photo I didn't use chickpeas!

Basic ingredients

1 red onion, diced

1 tbspn olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red chilli, diced finely

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp curry powder

1" ginger, grated

juice of 1/2 lemon

Contents

100g red lentils

1 large carrot, grated

250ml stock

400g tin of chopped tomatoes

400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

100g fresh spinach

A handful of chopped coriander

In a large saucepan, fry the basic curry ingredients over a low heat for a good 5 minutes, allowing all the flavours to combine. 

Then add the main contents, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. 

Energising stir fry vegetables (Serves: 4, Preparation time: 30 minutes, Cooking time: 10 minutes)

If you get the balance of sauce and veg right, this is absolutely delicious. It tastes authentically Asian. Feel free to add some red chilli pepper if you like it hot. 

Stir fry sauce

2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp thai fish sauce

1 tsp umbeoshi plum puree

1 tsp miso paste

1/2 tsp chinese 5 spice

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1" ginger, grated

Veg

60g mushrooms, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 carrot, in batons

1/2 chinese cabbage, sliced

 180g bean sprouts

150g sprouting broccoli

1 small tin bamboo shoots

a few cashew nuts

4 spring onions, sliced

handful of coriander

First , mix together all of the ingredients for the stir fry sauce in a small jar and shake well.

Then put a small amount of olive oil to a wok or large frying pan. 

Add all the veg except the coriander and spring onions and fry  for 3 minutes on a very high heat, stirring occasionally.

Pour the stir fry sauce over the vegetables and continue to cook for a furher 2 minutes. 

Stir through the coriander and spring onions before serving. 

Serve with brown rice or quinoa.