Dressed Somen with Spinach and Egg

This dish is insanely easy to make, only requires one pot, and can be done in less than 10 minutes. Oh yeah. Great for lunch on the run or a snack, etc. Just adjust the seasoning to your personal tastes.

This recipe uses somen because I've recently become addicted to it. It appears to be a cross between udon, ramen and soba, and because it's very thin, it cooks in a few minutes.

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 x 90g serving of Hakubaku organic somen
• 1 egg
• 50g of baby spinach, washed
• Pepper
• Soya sauce
• Sesame oil
• Olive/vegetable oil
• Boiling water

1. Boil the somen for about 3 minutes. Test to ensure consistency is to your liking. Drain, rinse with hot water to remove starch and set aside.
2. Heat a little oil and scramble-fry the egg to your liking (while cooking, season it with a little soya sauce). Set aside.
3. Return the noodles to the pan with the spinach, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1/2 tbsp soya sauce and a few shakes of pepper. Turn noodles to incorporate spinach and stir for 2 minutes, or until spinach is slightly wilted.
4. Top with fried egg and serve.

Ideas:

• Swap the egg for a handful of prawns fried with a little soya sauce and sesame oil
• You can add other veggies - some sliced fried asparagus, green beans or snow peas would be ideal
• Try other sauce combinations, such as teriyaki

Minced Beef Noodles

This recipe is inspired by japchae, a Korean dish. That dish normally calls for special sweet potato noodles, but this dish uses glass noodles (also known as vermicelli or mung bean noodles).

This dish is pretty easy to prepare with a bare fridge - most of my ingredients were frozen, canned or dried. Yeah...

As with many of my other recipes, this is pretty easy and low-maintenance ('cause that's how I roll). I could happily have used more corn, green beans, and maybe some spinach and mushrooms (sadly, I had neither of the latter two ingredients). It's nice and colourful (somehow makes it look more virtuous)and savoury. Yum.

I don't specify the amount of seasonings because I tend to just throw things in and taste, then adjust as necessary.

This will make enough to serve 2 people.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (200g) of frozen mixed vegetables - mine was a mix of carrots, cauliflower and broccoli
• 1 x 125g can of corn, drained
• 1 medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 150g green beans, trimmed and cut into 1.5cm lengths
• 150g dried vermicelli (glass/mung bean noodles)
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic (or 1/2 tbsp garlic paste)
• 250g of minced beef
• Sesame oil
• Sugar
• Light soya sauce
• Dark soya sauce
• White pepper
• Boiling water

1. Microwave the frozen vegetables according to packet directions, and set aside. Soak the noodles in boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes or until tender (keep checking). When ready, drain and return to bowl.
2. While this is happening, heat 1/2 tsp of sesame oil in a saucepan over high heat. Add the onion and garlic. Stir fry for 2 minutes then add the beef. Pour in a generous splash of light soya sauce, a few shakes of pepper, 1/2 tbsp of sesame oil, 1/2 tsp of sugar and about 5 drops of dark soy sauce. Stir and break up the beef until fully cooked.
3. Add the green beans and fry for a minute, then add the rest of the vegetables, some soy sauce, sesame oil and 1/4 tsp sugar. Add 5 shakes of pepper, and stir to combine. Simmer for a few minutes or until green beans are just cooked.
4. Add the drained noodles and stir to combine. Taste, and season with more soy sauce/sugar/white pepper/sesame oil as necessary.

Jump in and munch!

Sweet Potato Salad

I came up with this one day while attempting to be much healthier than I normally am. I tend to loathe salads with a passion but I find this one bearable.

It's pretty simple, low-maintenance and quite yummy.

Serves 1.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium or large sweet potato (depends on how hungry you are)
• 50g baby spinach leaves, washed and spun dry
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 20g mozzarella, cubed
• 1 tablespoon chopped dried cranberries
• Balsamic vinegar
• Olive oil
• Tuscan seasoning (salt, rosemary, garlic, thyme, mixed Italian herbs) - I think it's a Masterfoods mix
• Paprika
• Cayenne pepper
• Salt
• White pepper

1. Toast the pine nuts and sesame seeds (over medium heat, no oil) until lightly golden. Set aside to cool. Pre-heat the oven to 180-200 degrees celcius.
2. Scrub the sweet potato. Quarter the potato lengthwise. Slice the quarters into 1/2 pieces. Rub or spray the potato pieces with olive oil and season with the Tuscan seasoning , cayenne pepper, salt, paprika and white pepper.
3. Line a small baking dish with aluminium foil. Place the sweet potato in it and cooked for approximately 30-35 minutes or until tender.
4. Layer the spinach leaves on a plate, followed by followed by the sweet potato, toasted nuts, cheese and cranberries.
5. Serve with a dressing made of 1 part balsamic vinegar, 3 parts olive oil.

Ideas:

• Add grilled/poached sliced chicken
• If you're a pescatarian and want more protein, add some sardines or smoked salmon
• Add herbs or lemon to the dressing
• Add 1/2 cup cooked mushrooms
• Add other vegetables, lightly steamed/boiled and refreshed in cold water (asparagus, broccoli, beans, etc)

Comfort Food

We love food...and comfort food best of all (who doesn't??). So this might be a long list:

Elle:

Lobster with cheese, cream, onion and mushroom (it's a bastardised Thermidor but oh my god Good)

Cheese (Melted on bread, with crackers and fruit or on its own - yes, I like eating cheese for breakfast)

Homemade Mac and Cheese (noticing a theme?)

Creamy Mash with lots of butter (self-explanatory, really)

Chinese Herbal Chicken Soup - if I'm feeling rundown and on the verge of illness I eat this - miracle cure!

Thick rice porridge with pickled lettuce and ba hu (pork floss) - I eat this when I'm sick and particularly as my first solid food post-food poisoning. I'll often have it when I'm missing home.

Watercress and pork meatball soup (yummy, healthy and nourishing)

Really, when it comes to comfort food, for me it has to be either rich and unhealthy or light, brothy and nutritious.

Andrea

I have to admit that when I'm stressed or sick, I often stop eating altogether instead of eating comfort food. Yes, I am an anorexic stresser. During exams periods, if I eat something I feel like I could throw it all out again (I know, TMI). But sometimes, the Boyfriend some people force me to eat, and then I get picky. So, here are my comfort foods (after reading Elle's I know this is a shame, but it's all about being honest) :

Kinder Delice (two layers of soft dark chocolate cake with a creamy kinder milk layer between, covered in chocolate).

Apple or Apple/Pear compote. In very large quantities. The Boyfriend buys me about 3kg during test weeks.

Chicken soup straight from the Tetrapack. Okay, I do put it in the microwave for 5 minutes so it's boiling hot.

Carbonara pasta. The greasiness of the cream+lards+gruyère is just magnificent when sick.

Sour candy.

And let's not forget... PASSION FRUIT SORBET STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CONTAINER.

So, that means that my anorexic stress is easily compensated by eating a combination of the most fattening things ever.

Seared Scallops and Angel Hair Pasta with Haloumi Pesto

So, I recently bought a Food Processor. Colour me extremely excited! I'd been wanting a food processor for ages, so I could try out different recipes. Also, it's just plain fun throwing a bunch of different ingredients into a bowl and blending them.

Once I got my food processor though, I suddenly started dithering about what to make in it. It couldn't just be any old thing...then inspiration struck!

PESTO. That's right. I'm not a fan of normal 'green' pesto; so I never eat it but it's always struck me as something fun to make. Also, I wanted to make a non-green pesto to have with pasta (thus allowing me to get dinner on the table in under 10 minutes, score!). This meal takes only 15 minutes to make, no joke. Perfect for those nights when you're tired and your roomie is refusing to cook and you're starving (it serves two but if they're refusing to cook, they can stay hungry - keep the leftovers for lunch). I just grabbed a bunch of things that I thought would work well in a pesto and dumped them in. The cheeses give the pesto a wonderfully complex hit of salt and tone down the sharpness of the tomatoes.

Also I'm really not kidding about the time frame. The pesto takes all of one minute to be whizzed about, the angel hair pasta 5 minutes to cook and the scallops 5 minutes max. The rest of the time i.e. the other 5+ minutes (since you are doing these things simultaneously) is spent prepping/gathering ingredients and boiling water. Yes, it is that fast. You should cook it.

Ingredients:

For the pesto:

• 75g semi or sun-dried tomatoes (and a few spoons of their oil)
• A splash of red wine
• A glug of olive oil
• 2 tbsps of balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove of garlic
• 50g of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp dried oregano
• 100g of haloumi
• 30g Parmesan Reggiano
• 1 tbsp silvered almonds
• 1 tbsp pine nuts
• 3-4 anchovies*

*The anchovies are optional. They add a subtle base flavour (i.e. do not taste anchovy-ish) but if they're not your thing you can omit them.

Other:

• About 250g angel hair pasta (or enough for 2 people)
• 300g scallops with or without roe attached
• 2 tsps olive oil plus a splash of it
• 2 tsps butter
• 1 tsp salt

1. Boil water. Pour it into a deep saucepan and add the salt and splash of olive oil, followed by the pasta. Cook as per packet instructions or until al dente or until it's the right 'doneness' for you. I use San Remo and find that despite the instructions saying 2 minutes, 5 minutes yields the perfect pasta.
2. While the pasta is boiling, rinse the scallops and pat them dry. Place a frying pan over medium high heat for 30 seconds. During these 30 seconds, chuck all your pesto ingredients into the food processor. Close it securely/as per your model instructions.
3. Add 1 tsp of butter and one of olive oil to the pan for 30 seconds. When they start to sizzle, add half of the scallops. Depending on their thickness, cook for 1.5-2 minutes. While this is happening, use the food processor to chop up your pesto. Then leave it and flip your scallops. Don't forget to check on your pasta - if it's done, take it off the heat & drain it, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid!
4. Cook them for another 1-1.5 minutes. While they are cooking, shake the processor slightly to dislodge any unblended ingredients and blend again. When the scallops are done, remove them and repeat with the rest.
5. Pour the drained pasta back into the saucepan and top with the pesto and reserved pasta liquid. Stir to combine. Serve on a plate with the scallops on the side.

Ideas:

• Add washed baby spinach leaves for a nutritional boost (I'm one of those people who will randomly chuck a handful of baby spinach into whatever I'm cooking)
• Try other seafood - prawns would work well
• Experiment with the pesto! Alter the quantities, change the ingredients - do what you think will taste good
• If you have more time, use other types of pasta
• I had more suggestions but sadly, I've forgotten them...

Slow-Cooker Chicken Stew

I was hungry a few nights ago and googling 'Chicken recipes' and found this:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-recipe-chicken-with-bacon-mushrooms-onions-10000000614073/

I was immediately excited, because a) bacon, b) mushrooms, and c) slow cooker food - minimal preparation and minimal monitoring. To make it even easier, I've modified the recipe to my tastes and to make it slightly healthier i.e. less bacon. Again, I use organic bacon with less salt so I have to add some to make up for it.

This recipe serves 2.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 chicken thighs, rinsed
• 4 rashes or bacon, sliced crossways
• 3 large sticks of celery, coarsely diced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• I large onion, coarsely diced
• 200g Swiss Brown mushrooms, cut into eighths
• 1 Massel 'Chicken Style' stock cube (yeah, I use these a lot)
• 100ml white wine
• 1 tbsp mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Long-grain rice and steamed green vegetables (I did green beans) to serve at the end
• Salt & pepper for seasoning at the end if necessary

1. Put all the ingredients plus the 1/2 tsp of salt into the slow cooker. Mix them up well. Add just enough water to the cooker so that the meat and veg is almost - but not quite - covered.
2. Cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours (or on LOW for 6-7 hours). Stir once, halfway through cooking.
3. Taste before serving and add more salt or some pepper if necessary. Serve with rice and some steamed green vegetables (so you can feel slightly virtuous and also to justify midnight snacks of fried haloumi).

I haven't written down any ideas for this but I might experiment with the quantities of ingredients and with the vegetables used...I'm thinking corn, squash and parsnips or turnips. I might even try doing this on the stovetop and reducing the sauce considerably before adding some cream.

Eggplant Parmigiana

Today's post is going to be a continuation of the last post, which was a Vegetarian Dinner Menu. What I love best about this menu is that between the eggplant and the vast amount of cheese consumed, you don't really miss meat (for the duration of the meal, anyway).

If I need to use stock cubes, I like to use Massel ones as they don't contain any animal products - this makes them suitable for cooking for vegetarians (they do Vegetable, Chicken Style and Beef Style). I'll admit I'm lazy when it comes to this sort of thing - making stock to keep for later use is too much work, plus I don't have much freezer space.

This recipe is also low-fuss, so I don't bother grilling the eggplant first (it takes too long).

This serves 4 as a main.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium-sized eggplants, sliced lengthways (1 cm thick)
• 2 x 400g cans of canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 Massel 'Chicken Style' stock cube
• 1 large onion, diced'
• 2 cloves garlic, very finely diced (or 2/3 tbsp of garlic paste)
• 1.5 tbsps oregano
• 1.5 tbsps basil
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 200g Bocconcini, thinly sliced
• 100g Mozzarella, thickly grated
• 75g Parmesan, finely grated
• 50g cheddar (optional)
• Salt

1. Rinse the eggplant and shake so most of the water is gone but the pieces are still moist. Sprinkle with salt and set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.
2. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and butter. When very liquid, add the onion and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add the tomatoes, oregano and basil. Stir to combine.
3. Add 1/4 cup of water and the stock cube to the saucepan and stir until dissolved. Increase the heat and stir the sauce for 5 minutes or until it is slightly reduced.
4. Rinse the eggplant and dry with paper towels. Get a large overproof dish. Spread a thin layer of the sauce over the bottom. Top with a single layer of eggplant. Cover this with some sauce and a handful of bocconcini pieces. Repeat until dish is full; sauce and bocconcini is used up.
5. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove (using oven mitts) and top with the combined mozzarella and parmesan. Return to oven and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until cheese is golden, melted and slightly browned. Serve.

You will probably need to use a spatula or slice to cut the parmigiana for serving.

Ideas:

• Feel free to increase the cheese content (I like adding gruyere and cheddar)
• Add baby spinach or finely diced mushrooms to the sauce
• If you're missing meat, add some finely diced bacon to the sauce
• Experiment with the herbs
• Try playing around with the way the eggplant is cut and added - you could almost make this ratatouille-like and still retain the core flavours