Tuna steak nicoise

In

I know it's getting winters now so it's not really the time for a salad, but when I spotted a tuna steak in the reduced section I had to have it! I'm probably one of the few people in England who prefer a tuna steak to a normal steak....contraversial :P

I'm not a big fan of potatoes either so you won't find any of them in this recipe either - but if you wanted to boil a few new potatoes you could easily add them in.

Ingredients:

1 tuna steak

1 egg

A handful of olives

Lettuce

A handful of cherry tomatoes

Salt, pepper

Chilli flakes

Soy sauce 

Recipe:

1. Start by seasoning your tuna steak with salt, pepper, chilli flakes and a dash of soy sauce and heating up your griddle pan

2. Place the egg in boiling water and cook for 3 mins (I like mine soft boiled)

3. Place the tuna into the griddle pan and cook for around 2 mins on each side 

4. Chop up all of your salad and plate up

5. Peel the egg and add to the plate

6. Slice the tuna diagonally and place on top of the salad, dress if you fancy

Smoked salmon, avocado and egg bagels

This is the ultimate Sunday brunch :)

2 of my favourite things are scrambled eggs and avocado so this was always going to be a winning combination!

Ingredients:

1 bagel

2 slices of smoked salmon, chopped

Half a avocado, chopped

2 eggs

A splash of milk

Salt and pepper

Recipe:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with milk, salt and pepper

2. Scramble in a frying pan

3. Meanwhile, toast the bagel and butter

4. Spread the chunky avocado onto the bagel and top with the scrambled egg

5. Top the bagels with the smoked salmon and season

6. Serve (with ketchup if you're like me!)

Baked meatballs and polenta

Oh you can tell its winter when the meatball dishes come out to play! Plus in this recipe I use Swedish meatballs, because let's face it, why wouldn't you?! Using polenta and some veggies takes the classic meatballs and pasta dish into the 'healthy and nutritious' realm too, so you don't have to feel guilty after a big plate full! 

I've used shop bought Swedish meatballs here (I was feeling a bit lazy :) ) but you can make your own if you feel so inclined! 

Ingredients:

One small red onion

6 Swedish meatballs

Half a can of plum tomatoes

4 cherry tomatoes

Any veg to go with it (here I've used courgettes and lentils but peppers work well too)

50g polenta

100ml boiling water

100ml milk

Seasonings

Pinch of chilli flakes

Recipe:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees

2. Chop the onion into large chunks and place in an individual baking dish along with the vegetables and meatballs, season and bake for 15 minutes

3. Take the dish out of the oven and mix in the plum tomatoes (and lentils, if using). Return to the oven for 10 minutes

4. Meanwhile, put the polenta into a small saucepan and add the water and milk, along with a pinch if chilli flakes. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 3-4 minutes.

5. Spoon the polenta onto a plate and pour the tomato, veg and meatballs mixture into the centre.

6. Season with salt, pepper and some fresh basil and serve 

Lamb tagine with flatbread :)

I always forget about my beautiful tagine. This weekend I spied it hiding under the cupboard and decided to take advantage of a free weekend!

 I'm using Hugh fearnley whittingstall's 'magic bread dough' recipe again - it's honestly so easy you should definitely try it! You can play around with the ingredients in the tagine as long as you have a meat, some root veg, dried apricots, tinned tomatoes, stock and ras el hanout. 

Ingredients:

For the magic dough:

• 250g plain white flour
• 250g strong white flour
• 1½ level teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon instant dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus a little extra for oiling

Recipe:

• Put the two flours into the bowl of the stand mixer with the salt and yeast. Mix well using the dough hook. Add the oil and 325ml warm water and mix to a rough dough. Knead for 5–10 minutes, until smooth. This is quite a loose and sticky dough, which is just as it should be – you get better-textured bread this way – so try not to add too much flour if you can help it, it will become less sticky as you knead.
• Trickle a little oil into a clean bowl, add the kneaded dough and turn it in the oil so it is covered with a light film. Cover with a tea towel or cling film and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size – at least an hour, probably closer to two – or if using the next day, wrap bowl in cling film and put straight into the fridge to prove slowly.
• When the dough is well risen and puffy, tip it out and ‘knock it back’ by poking it with your outstretched fingers until it collapses to its former size. It’s now ready to be shaped to your will.

For the tagine:

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ras-el-hanout
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 600g lamb leg, diced into 2cm pieces, excess fat trimmed
• 200g butternut squash, diced
• 200g soft dried apricots
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 500ml lamb or beef stock
• zest 1 lemon
• small bunch coriander
• natural yogurt, to serve

Recipe:

1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and cook for 5 mins until softened. Add the garlic and spices and cook for a couple mins more, stirring to prevent them catching and burning.
2. Add the lamb, squash and apricots to the dish to brown
3. Then transfer the mix into the tagine, pour over the tomatoes and stock, season well and bring to the boil. Put the lid on and transfer to the oven. After 1 hr, stir the tagine and return to the oven, uncovered, for a further 30 mins.
4. Check the seasoning. Sprinkle over the zest and coriander, and serve in warm bowls with yogurt.

Aubergine and sweet potato Katsu curry

This is probably one of my best 'just made with stuff I found in the cupboard' dishes! It just so happened I had everything I needed for a delish Katsu curry. Next time I will blend the sauce a bit more though (as you can tell from the photo!)

Serves 2

For the sauce

A bit of olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tbsp curry powder
300ml vegetable stock
1 tsp honey
2 tsp soy sauce
1 bay leaf
A large pinch of garam masala

For the aubergines and sweet potato

Olive oil spray
1 free range egg, beaten
100g seasoned plain flour
200g panko breadcrumbs 

50g dukkha
1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced in to thin circly shapes
1 aubergine, chopped to the same width as the sweet potato

And some veg to serve, or rice if you prefer

1. Start by pre heating the oven to 180 degrees and setting up your egg, seasoned flour, dukkha and panko breadcrumbs in separate bowls then pop to one side
2. Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan, then add the onion and garlic and sweat on a low heat for 2 minutes. 
3. Then add the carrot, pop the lid on and leave to soften, stirring occasionally. 
4. While the carrot is cooking away, prepare a large baking tray by spraying with olive oil, then take your slices of sweet potato, first coating them in the breaded flour, then dipping them in egg, then covering them in dukka or the panko bread crumbs (alternate which one you coat it with).
5. Place each one on to the baking tray and spray well with the oil and pop in to the oven for around 30 minutes.
6. Go back to your sauce and add the flour and curry powder and mix in well. 
7. Add the vegetable stock, soy sauce and honey, bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. 
8. After 20 minutes add the garam masala, then blend
9. Remove the vegetables from the oven (they should be lovely and golden brown) and stack on your plate along side the veg. 
10. Pour over the sauce and enjoy!

Salmon and greens

Nice and light and summery, with my quantities of veg (about 4 times too much for anyone else!!) season with whatever you have to hand, I had some fresh basil so basil salmon it is!

Ingredients:

One piece of salmon

A couple of big handful of green veg

Quinoa

Seasonings

Directions (do you really need them?!)

1. Cook the quinoa for 20 mins until slightly translucent 

2. Cook the salmon in a hot frying pan for 3 mins on each side

3. Cook the veg in a steamer or pan of water for 4 mins 

The salad to beat all other salads.

The photo won't do this salad justice. Nothing could. I could eat this every day for a month. So if your anything like me these ingredients will sell this salad to you and you will immediately drop whatever you're doing, rush out to go and make this :) sneak off, slink away, dash off, whatever you need to do...just eat this plate of deliciousness!! 

Avocado. (Im sold already.....). 

Smoked salmon. 

Assorted tomatoes (hello, assorted - fancy!).

Fresh garden peas. 

Rocket. 

Basil. 

Spring onion. 

Cucumber. 

Grapes. 

Olive oil. 

Chilli sauce. 

Recipe....

You really need a recipe? Throw together the ingredients listed above, season, and devour :)