Prawn + asparagus stir fry

It might not look much but it’s the simplest, sweetest little stir fry that’s super quick after a long day … when you also really want to eat something that feels like it’s nourishing you too.

I have a bad cheese on toast habit when it’s been a long day and I need something quick but this feels a billion times better to me and doesn’t take really that much longer.

---

For this quick stir-fry for one, you’ll need:

2-3 tablespoons dry basmati (or jasmine rice)

some asparagus tips or green beans

1-2 cloves of garlic, depending on their size and your taste

raw prawns, as many as you like

cooking oil - something like rapeseed or grapeseed or sunflower

2 teaspoons or so fish sauce

2 teaspoons or so white sugar

white pepper (or black pepper if you don’t have white)

---

Boil water with a pinch of salt, throw in basmati rice, medium boil for five mins and then add asparagus tips or maybe green beans for three mins more.

Drain quickly leaving a little hot water in the pan. Put the sieve back over the pan and quickly again a lid on top of the pan. Leave to steam while you make the stir fry.

Crush peel and chop 1-2 cloves of garlic and de-vein however many raw prawns you want.

Put a non-stick pan over a medium heat, add oil and the garlic.

Fry for a few seconds stirring until it smells amazing but doesn’t colour.

Add the prawns and stir all the time until they are pink - add a little splash of water if the garlic looks like burning or sticking.

Add the cooked asparagus or beans then two teaspoons each of fish sauce and sugar and water plus a shake of white pepper. Add a little more water if you want more of a sauce and bubble up for a minute or two.

Fluff the rice with a fork and serve with the prawn stir fry.

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Lemon garlic breadcrumb spaghetti

It’s all about the simplest, most delicious, spaghetti for me this year.

In all the craziness there’s something just very grounding and nurturing about it.

I just want easy. I want simplicity. I don’t want to faff around with a million ingredients.

Yes, I still love cooking, I just want it to be simple and kind of meditative. There’s something about the simplest spaghettis that provide this for me.

I hope you love making and eating this too.

For one big portion I used:

olive oil

1/2 lemon zest, just peeled off and chopped

1 garlic clove, peeled, squashed and minced

a big handful of breadcrumbs (I just blitzed a slice or two in the food processor - by the way you can do this and keep bags of breadcrumbs in the freezer and no need to defrost before using)

a small handful of fresh chopped parsley leaves

spaghetti cooked to your liking (around 75 - 100g for one)

a little of the pasta cooking water

juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

salt and pepper

grated parmesan to serve, if liked

Put a slug of olive oil into a non-stick pan and then add the lemon zest and garlic.

Stir and after a few seconds - maybe 30 - when it smells incredible, tip in the breadcrumbs.

Keep stirring and cooking until the breadcrumbs are gorgeous and toasty and crisp - and then remove from the heat.

Add the chopped parsley and stir to make a lovely garlicky, lemony, toasted breadcrumb mixture - and set to one side.

Cook your spaghetti in boiling salted water but drain it a minute or two before it’s perfect and make sure to retain half a cup or so of the water it was cooking in.

Return the pasta to the pan along with a good slosh of its cooking water, a little drizzle of olive oil, the juice of 1/2-1 lemon (to your taste and also depending on how juicy your lemon is of course) and a good pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Stir it all together over a low heat for a minute and then turn the heat off.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tip in most of the breadcrumb mixture and combine.

Pour into a bowl and top with the remaining breadcrumb mixture and some grated parmesan, if you choose (to be honest it doesn’t really need it but sometimes you do).

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Courgette leek salad with (possibly) the best dressing ever

This one’s firmly based on a recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks, The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook by Mireille Guiliano.

I love her writing and her recipes but I do usually change them up just a little bit, as with most recipes, as here.

This is the most beautifully simple dish that would be an utterly elegant side dish but I’m on a focused lose-the-lockfown-weight THING so I had this for lunch.

And I’ll be having it again soon. It was DELICIOUS.

The dressing makes enough for two so I have my second portion (this image) in the fridge ready for tomorrow’s amazing salad lunch idea (that I have already).

Honey, mustard, olive oil, lemony dressing = AMAZING.

---

To make it the way I did and to make a glorious, sunshine, light, gorgeous, healthy lunch for one, you’ll need:

FOR THE SALAD

2 leeks, cleaned, any tough outer layers removed, most of the green part cut off (use in soup another time) and the white piece remaining cut into a few smaller pieces

1 courgette, washed, peeled if you prefer, cut horizontally into slices and then these halved again

FOR THE DRESSING

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp runny honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

FOR THE MAKING IT ALL AMAZING

salt and pepper

fresh parmesan cheese, grated into little slices

---

Bring a big pan of salted water to the boil, throw in the leeks and boil on a fairly gentle boil for five minutes.

Add the courgettes, bring it back to the boil and give it another two minutes.

Drain and leave to cool.

Make the dressing while the vegetables cool by mixing all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl (to be honest, I started eating it straight from the bowl with a spoon). Obviously taste and adjust the quantities so it’s exactly right for you.

When the vegetables are cool, tip into a bowl and season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Toss and add some of the dressing and toss again.

Taste again!

Crumble or peel or grate on some parmesan cheese.

When it’s perfect, just pile it all up and dig in …. this is SO SO GOOD.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …