Prawn packets with mango avocado salsa

I haven't eaten prawns in years as I am against how they are caught by trawling, but have decided that as long as I buy line caught prawns from a sustainable fish farm it is okay.. So this is my first recipe in ages with prawns and wow it was a good one!

I'm sold on anything with avocado and mango in so I knew it would be good :) the added benefit was that it was super easy too!

Ingredients:

200g ish sustainably sourced king prawns
2 handfuls spinach
100g couscous
Half a mango
1 avocado
1 small red onion
A handful of cherry toms
Juice of half a lime
Seasonings

Recipe:

1. Spray some oil onto 2 pieces of tin foil and place a handful of spinach on each
2. Make the couscous with boiling water then once it has absorbed, spoon this on top of the spinach
3. Place half the prawns on each pile, season and squeeze some of the line juice on
4. Fold up the parcel to seal it and bake at 200 degrees for 10mins (steam should be released when you open the parcel)
5. Meanwhile, dice all of the other ingredients and mix in a bowl with more lime juice and seasonings
6. Serve and dig in!

Mediterranean mezze :)

I have been craving this Mediterranean mezze for weeks now and finally had the time and effort to make it! (It was definitely worth it!) probably took about an hour and a half to make, so make sure you have plenty of time.

The great thing about mezze is you can make as many parts of it as you fancy, and swap things about as you please. In this dish I had falafel, flat breads, sundried tomatoes, salad, houmous, tzatsiki, dukka aubergine and roasted peppers...

Most of these you can either buy or make, whatever you prefer.. I made the flatbreads, tzatsiki, dukka aubergine a and peppers...

Flatbreads:

250g plain flour
250g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast

Mix all of the dry ingredients and then add 325ml warm water and a drizzle of olive oil. Mix and then knead for 5-10mins. Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a clean bowl and place the dough in the bowl, rolling it around until a film of oil covers the dough. Leave in a warm place covered by a tea towel for 2 hours to rise. Poke the dough until it returns to a normal size then split into 8 pieces. Each piece makes a flatbread, so if you need less than 8 freeze the rest in cling film. Roll the flatbreads into circles 2-3mm thick and leave to rest for 5 mins. Next heat a pan on a very high heat and place in the dough, watching until it bubbles on top and is browned underneath, then flip and repeat. Take the flatbread out of the pan and pour garlic olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Tzatsiki:

Half a cucumber
100g Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
Paprika

Peel the cucumber than grate. Squeeze in a muslin cloth or tea towel to remove the water. Stir in all of the ingredients and your done!

Dukka aubergine:

Dukka mix (ready made is so much easier!)
Aubergine
Plain flour
One egg

Slice the aubergine into 3cm circles.
Whisk the egg. Dip the aubergine into the flour, egg then dukka. Fry gently for 5 mins on each side.

Roast peppers (pretty self explanatory!)

Hope you love it :)

Warwick whizzers with roast veg

I was in town today and happened to be walking past Aubrey allen, leamington's famous butcher/deli! Being a sucker for anything vaguely deli-related I had a look and came out with these Warwick whizzers sausages, recommended by my friend.

Next we had a brainstorm of what to do with our new purchase! Considered a stew but as its quite sunny today we went for this instead.

Ingredients (for 2 people)

4 Sausages (they don't have to be Warwick whizzers!!)
Half a butternut squash
One red onion
Half a courgette
Half a can of chickpeas
Seasonings
Olive oil
Salad leaves

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Chop the vegetables into large pieces and place in a large dish
3. Coat with seasonings (I went for cumin) and drizzle with olive oil
4. Place the sausages on top of the veg
5. Roast for 30-45mins until cooked
6. Serve with an arrangement of salad leaves

Enjoy! :)

Smoked haddock kedgeree

As my flatmate has never tried smoked fish before I thought I would make a good old kedgeree as a start! Nice and flavoursome, as well as being filling for a Sunday evening.

Ingredients (for 3):
150g rice
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
100g cabbage, roughly chopped
A handful of peas
1 large, or 2 small, fillets of smoked haddock
1 tbsp each of garam masala, paprika, cumin and tumeric

Recipe:
1. Wash the rice until the water runs clear, then bring to the boil and simmer for 12 mins until cooked
2. Meanwhile, place the haddock under the grill for 12 mins at 200 degrees
3. Boil the veg in with the rice for the final 5 mins
4. Drain the rice mixture and mix in the haddock in large flakes
5. Add the spices and season to taste
6. Serve with a generous dollop of mango chutney :)

Cajun chicken quinoa

I fancied something light and summery today so after a good half hour of looking through recipes I picked this quinoa dish and it was a good choice! The apricots gave it a good sweet twist too. If you've never tried quinoa before its a bit like couscous but with more texture.

Ingredients (for 4 people):

3 chicken breasts chopped into bite size pieces
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
2 small red onions sliced
4 spring onions chopped
120g quinoa
600ml chicken stock
125g ready cooked lentils (from a tin or pouch is good)
100g dried apricots sliced

Recipe:
1. Rub the Cajun into the chicken and cook at 180 degrees for 20mins until cooked through
2. Meanwhile cook the quinoa in the stock for 15 mins, then add the lentils and apricots for the final 5 mins
3. Fry the onions gently in a frying pan with a little oil until softened
4. Mix the chicken, quinoa mixture and onions together and season with some salt, pepper and parsley

Super salad

This was my lunch today... I'm not one for a boring 'lettuce, cucumber and tomato' salad! This one was lettuce, carrot, courgette, pepper, avocado, sweet corn, beet root, spring onion, cranberries, nuts and seeds + lemon and herb dressing :) enjoy!

Oven roasted Ratatouille and Salmon

This "oven roasted ratatouille" is one of those recipes I've been meaning to try out for ages, after seeing it in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's veggie cookbook (which has a lot of amazing recipes btw!). Then I added some salmon as well just because I'm a big fan of fish :) 
This is one of those recipes that tastes better the slower you cook it, so make sure you have a good hour or so to do it in.

Ingredients:

1 onion

1 pepper

1 large courgette

Half of an aubergine

2 cloves of garlic

1 400g tin of plum tomatoes

2 fillets of salmon

Olive oil, seasonings

Recipe:

1. Roughly chop all of the veg and place in a large ovenproof dish
2. Drizzle with a little oil and season with salt and pepper
3. Roast for 1 hour at 180 degrees
4. Meanwhile, dice the garlic and fry gently in a large frying pan for 2 mins
5. Then add the tomatoes and seasonings and simmer gently for 45 mins
6. Place the salmon on a sheet of tin foil, drizzle with oil and season however you fancy!
7. Wrap up the salmon into parcels and place on a baking tray
8. Bake for 20 mins
9. 10 mins before the veg is cooked through, add the tomatoes mixture and return to the oven for 10 mins, adding in a handful of cherry tomatoes if you have some
10. Serve with couscous if you're hungry!