Tag Archives: easy dinner recipe

Pearled spelt risotto with butternut squash and spinach

8 Jan

December is a very decadent month for me. First of all, it’s my birthday, followed closely by various Christmas drinks, dinners and parties. And if that’s not enough, then there’s Christmas itself. Not to mention a boozy New Year. Throughout the month, all I kept thinking to myself was that come January I would be better to my body.

So here comes the healthier eating. The thing is, I do love healthy foods. A quinoa salad is one of my favourite lunch dishes and I adore pulses, brown rice and wholewheat pasta. I’m also a fan of pearled spelt, commonly known as faro. So one of my first healthy New Year recipes comes after I swapped the usual white risotto rice for Sharpham Park pearled spelt. The pearled spelt gave the dish a crunchy texture and nutty flavour, which I prefer. I also much prefer the fact that pearled spelt is more easily digestable than wheat and higher in nutrients.

Try it, not only will you taste buds love it, your body will too.

Pearled Spelt risotto with spinach and butternut squash

Ingredients – serves 4

200g pearled spelt
200g baby spinach, washed
1 large butternut squash, chopped into cubes
2 sprigs of rosemary
Glug of rapeseed oil for roasting
1 tbsp olive oil for frying
1 red onion , finely diced
6 garlic cloves, (2 crushed and 4 whole)
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
100ml white wine
1l hot vegetable stock
Handful grated parmesan to serve
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning

Method

Pre heat the oven to 200C

1. Place the chopped butternut squash into a roasting tray and add the 4 garlic cloves and sprigs of rosemary. Drizzle with rapeseed oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until soft
2. About 10 minutes after you have placed the butternut squash in the oven, rinse the spelt thoroughly with cold water
3. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook the onion and red chilli for 2 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further minute
4. Drain the spelt and fry for one minute before adding the wine. Simmer until almost all the liquid evaporates, stirring often
5. Gradually start adding the vegetable stock. Stir in the stock 1 cup at a time and simmer, stirring often, until all liquid is absorbed and the spelt is just tender, about 20 minutes in total
6. Add the spinach and stir until it has wilted
7. Season with salt and pepper. Serve and sprinkle with the parmesan shavings

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Home made spaghetti recipe

30 Nov

I love my KitchenAid. Not only does it whip up the best tasting cakes, it also helps me in my quest to making the best fresh spaghetti, thanks to the pasta attachment.

Last night I decided, for the second time, to try my hand at making fresh pasta. The first time hadn’t quite gone to plan and I ended up with slightly thicker tagliatelle than I wanted. Combined with too short a cooking time, it was a bit claggy and not overly pleasant.

The inspiration for this dish came from one of my favourite food magazines, Donna Hay. I first discovered the magazine on my travels around Australia and was disgruntled when I came home, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to find it over here. I was wrong. Selfridges sells it, albeit at a premium price. But it is imported from Australia and it’s totally worth every penny.

I love fresh, simple pasta so decided only to use my handy little tins of Nudo Extra Virgin basil oil, Nudo Extra Virgin Sicilian lemon oil, a lump of goats cheese and a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground black pepper. This dish is heaven. The pasta is easy to make and about ten times more satisfying than that cardboard you get from the supermarket.

Ingredients

400g 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
4 eggs (I used Clarence Court as the yolks make the dough a lovely orange colour)
Nob of bugger
Nudo Extra Virgin Basil oil
Nudo Extra Virgin Sicilian Lemon oil
Fresh ground pepper and sea salt
Goats cheese

Method

1. Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the edds and use a fork to lightly whisk, bringing the flour into the centre until the dough begins to come together and all the flour has been combined. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Wrap in cling film and set aside for 30 minutes to rest.

2. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Set the pasta machine to position 1 and pass dough portion through the machine. Repeat 5-6 times, folding the dough onto itself each time and adding extra flour if necessary.

3. Set the pasta machine to position 2 and pass the dough through once. Repeat on each setting until you reach position 5. Lay the sheets of pasta on trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Repeat with remaining pasta portions.

4. Add the pasta cutting rollers to the machine and pass the pasta sheets through, one at a time. You can either cook the pasta straight away or hang it for 30-60 minutes. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes or until al dente.

5. Stir through a good drizzle of both olive oils and a handful of goat’s cheese. Add a fresh grinding of black pepper and a pinch of sea salt and enjoy!

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Pearl barley, cavolo nero, beetroot and Goats cheese risotto recipe

13 Oct

I love pearl barley. LOVE it. And if I didn’t love it enough because of how tasty and versatile it is, I love it even more because it is so cheap. It costs roughly 50p for a 500g bag.

I have had pearl barley dishes at some of my favourite London restaurants / cafes – Petersham Nurseries, Polpo and Meatballs to name a few, each dish different. Salads, stews, risottos, you name it. I have cooked it a fair few times myself too, most recently with lamb.

A few weeks ago I was staying with a friend in Stoke Newington and she introduced me to the best green grocers I have ever come across. Situated on Newington Green, the appropriately and simply titled Newington Green Fruit and Vegetetables sells a wide (and when I say wide, I mean wide) range of vegetables, exitoc fruits, herbs and condiments. And the best thing is the prices. I bought a huge bag of veg for a mere £8, something that would have cost double the price in my favourite supermarket!

In my bag of goodies was a bunch of cavolo nero and a couple of fresh beetroot so it was easy to decide what to do with them when I got them home. I also added a crumbling of fresh, tangy goats cheese. Delicious.

Pearl barley, roast beetroot, cavolo nero and goats cheese risotto

Ingredients (serves two)

• 400g pearl barley, rinsed and soaked for 1 hour
• 1 glass white wine
• 800ml vegetable stock
• 3 balls fresh beetroot
• 8 leaves cavolo nero, shredded
• Goat’s cheese to crumble
• salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
• extra virgin olive oil to drizzle
• 50g butter
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200degrees and wash the beetroot
2. Chop the beetroot into medium sized cubes. Place in a roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, or until soft
3. Boil the vegetable stock and keep simmering while using
4. Add a glug of olive oil and the butter to a heavy bottomed pan. Season with salt and pepper and add the onions. Fry gently on a medium heat until translucent
5. Drain the pearl barley and add to the pan with the onions. Fry for two minutes, whilst stirring and then add the white wine and fry until the wine has almost all gone
6. Add a ladle of water and stir. When the stock has nearly been absorbed, add another ladle and repeat until you have one ladle of stock left
7. When the pearl barley is nearly ready (it will be soft with a slight crunch), add that last ladle of water along with the cavolo nero, place a lid on the top and steam for 3 minutes, or until the cavolo nero is wilted
8. Take the beetroot out of the oven and stir through the risotto. Season with salt and black pepper if needed and add a squeeze of lemon juice before serving

ENJOY!

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Pan fried duck with damson sauce, bok choi and shiitake mushrooms

11 Sep

This dish was inspired by my recent London treasure hunt, where I was given an insight into the fascinating culture of Hong Kong. Read more about my experiences here.

Ingredients

2 duck breasts
1 star anise
3 sprigs of rosemary
25 butter
10 shiitake mushrooms
1/2 red chilli, cut into rings (keep seeds in)
200g bok choi
A few drops of fish sauce
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp groundnut oil
3 cloves garlic
120g white rice
Sea salt and pepper to season

For the damson sauce

3 cm ginger, grated
1 red chilli, seeds removed and diced
225g damsons, stoned and halved
75g light muscovado sugar
15ml balsamic vinegar

Method

For the damson sauce

1. Stone the damsons and place into a pan, along with the balsamic vinegar, chilli and ginger. Cover with the sugar and plase on a medium heat. Let the sugar dissolve and leave to bubble for 5 minutes or until the damsons are soft
2. Blend the damson mixture until smooth and the pass through a sieve to get rid of all of the pulp

For the duck

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Score the skin of the duck and rub with salt and pepper
3. place into a pan on a medium heat and fry for 6-7 minutes. Add the butter, star anise and thyme and baste
4. Place into a the oven and cook for 6 minutes (pink) and 10 minutes (well done)

For the bok choi and shiitake mushroom

1. Heat the oil in a wok for 30 seconds. Add bok choi for two minutes until the leaves are slightly wilted
2. Add mushrooms and fry for a further two minutes
3. Add chilli and garlic and fry for a further minute
4. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce at the end just before serving

Plate up and enjoy the delightful flavours of Cantonese cuisine!

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Small plates – lamb and pearl barley, tomato salad and roasties

30 May

Small plates are all the rage at the moment. Some of my favourite London restaurants are serving them and those restaurants have become extremely popular over the last year. Take Polpo as an example. The small Beak Street Venetian restaurant did so well that owner Russell Norman quickly opened a sister restaurant, Polpetto on Dean Street above the infamous a French House watering hole. This was followed by Spuntino, a scarily cool American diner set in downtown New York in the prohibition era. This week he is also due to open his fourth, no doubt fabulous restaurant in Covent Garden, Da Polpo. I can’t wait.

So my Sunday dinner this week was mostly inspired by a few dishes that I have recently had at Polpo. Roast shoulder of Lamb with pearl barley and pan fried mushrooms, vine ripened and Golden Beauty plum tomatoes with marinated red onion, basil and radish and a simple plate of rosemary roast potatoes.

For some reason, food seems more satisfying when sharing with your fellow diners and I much prefer this to being restricted to one dish.

Serves 2 with left overs.

Lamb with pearl barley, pan fried mushrooms and British tenderheart cabbage

There was something missing with the Lamb dish. I substituted the faro for pearl barley and I think that this may have been the problem. Maybe I could have added a bit more seasoning to the pearl barley but next time, I think I will use puy lentils instead. There is quite a bit left over and I’m going to have a go at making a stew with it – I think that pearl barley is better suited for this!

IMG_5812

Ingredients

800g shoulder of lamb joint
5 cloves garlic
2 sprigs rosemary
Sea salt
Black pepper
150g pearl barley
6 mushrooms
3 leaves British tenderheart cabbage
4tbsp rapeseed oil

Method

1. Place the room temperature lamb into a dish and season with salt and pepper. Rub with 2tbsp rapeseed oil and place rosemary sprigs on top.

2. Place in the oven and let roast for 1 hour 10 minutes. The amount of time you roast the lamb for corresponds to how heavy the joint is. Allow 25 minutes for each 500g plus an extra 25 minutes.

3. Rinse the pearl barley well. Place in a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. Let boil for 10 minutes and then reduce to a simmer for 1 hour.

4. 10 minutes before the lamb is ready, fry your mushrooms in 2tbsp rapeseed oil. Season with salt and pepper.

5. 5 minutes into cooking your mushrooms, place the cabbage into a pan of boiling water and boil for 4 minutes.

6. When the cabbage is tender, drain and add to the mushroom pan. Fry for one minute before serving.

Vine ripened tomato salad

This salad is utterly delicious – my local supermarket only had two varieties of tomatoes but I would recommend using as many different varieties that you can get your hands on. The raw red onion and radishes give the salad a welcome crunch, while the red wine vinegar provides a fantastic taste.

Ingredients

3 large vine ripened tomatoes
6 Golden Beauty plum tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion
Sea Salt
Black pepper
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 radishes
Handful of torn basil

Method

1. Chop all tomatoes and place in a large salad bowl.

2. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and add black pepper.

3. Chop radishes finely and add.

4. Chop red onion finely and marinate in red wine vinegar for 20 minutes. Add to the salad, along with the torn basil just before serving.

Roast potatoes with rosemary

Despite this being a pretty standard dish, it is delicious and one of my favourites. My potatoes may look a little pale but they were crispy and oily, just how I like them!

IMG_5816

Ingredients

3 large potatoes
5 garlic cloves
Sea salt
Black pepper
3 tbsp rapeseed oil

Method

1. Peel and chop potatoes. Place in pan of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes (or until they have just started to go soft)

2. Drain and shake in the pan. Place in a roasting dish and season with salt and pepper.

3. Drizzle over the rapeseed oil and place rosemary on top.

4. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or until crispy.

Serve on small plates and enjoy your feast!

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