Salmon with sesame, honey + other good things

Well, here in London it was a grey, cold, windy and absolutely lashing rain kind of a Saturday.

And I had salmon in the fridge so was definitely going to make it into something for dinner - hate food waste, so that’s it, if there’s salmon and it needs eating, that’s what I’ll have.

I usually like to cook salmon on the griddle so it’s crispy on both sides and have it like this with a spicy sour sauce.

But something about the rainswept day just made me want something softer somehow.

So I made this and it was soft and it was good with rice and the sauce was enveloping and warm and just right.

You don’t need to wait for a day indoors though, I think this would be lovely almost any evening for dinner - perhaps with a salad if the weather is a little cheerier though.

---

I made this just for me but actually the sauce would have probably just about been enough for two, so add and subtract as you choose for your perfect quantity and for your taste - you really can’t mess it up or get it wrong, it’s always going to taste good!

Get the salmon fillet out of the fridge and if you like to take the skin off, then do so now.

Personally, I like to take most of it off but leave about an inch at the end as a treat for when it’s all crispy and crackly … but, I forgot it wouldn’t go like that if baked so I’d probably remove the whole of the skin next time. Up to you!

---

For the sauce, you’ll need:

1-2 teaspoons runny honey

1-2 teaspoons coconut oil (but you could use another oil instead)

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

1 clove of garlic, squashed and minced

a small piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon or so of sesame seeds

1/2-1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1/2 a juicy lime

---

OK, I know this is where it starts looking like too much hard work to be bothered to do but I PROMISE it takes only a minute or two to do the heating/saucepan-y bit.

You just put the honey, oil and soy sauce into a little pan and heat gently until it’s melted, and then add a slosh of water and mix it all together and then take it off the heat.

THAT’S IT. Hard part done.

Then add all the other sauce ingredients to the sauce - either in its pan or mixed together in a different bowl - and stir to combine.

I couldn’t resist a little taste too - so good.

And next, just a dish for the salmon to go in, lined with a big piece of foil.

Tip most of the sauce onto the salmon, keeping just a little back.

Then fold up the foil so the salmon is in a little parcel with enough space for the sauce and fish to steam - don’t wrap it up tight, let it have room.

Put the salmon parcel in its dish into a medium oven - I have a gas oven and it was on Gas Mark 6 - for about twenty minutes.

I then tipped the salmon and sauce out of the foil into the dish to put under the grill for a further five minutes.

I take it out of the foil as the foil could catch alight. Also keep an eye on it while under the grill as that sweet, sticky sauce could potentially catch too.

What I was after was for it to all just cook a bit more and maybe even caramelise a little.

Pour over that last remaining bit of the original sauce - I just love that there’s a fresh kick somehow by adding this to the beautiful marinated cooked flavours.

Serve with rice and finished with some chopped spring onion and fresh coriander leaves, if liked.

---

---

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 …

Spaghetti with creamy avocado sauce

Simple, delicious and immune-boosting (vitamins A, C and E are all present in avocados).

Plus we’re adding fresh lemon juice and some gorgeous olive oil to the sauce just to up the goodness stakes.

---

Here we go …

For one or for two, basically it’s up to you how runny or thick you make the sauce:

one lovely soft ripe avocado

fresh lemon juice

a glug or so of olive oil

a handful of fresh basil leaves

salt and pepper

a pinch of dried chilli flakes

a little slosh of water if needed to loosen it up or to make the sauce thinner (as you choose)

Blend the sauce ingredients first so that’s ready to go and then cook your spaghetti in a big pan of salted water.

When you drain the pasta, make sure you keep some of the cooking water behind too, just in case you need to loosen the pasta a little more.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and make sure it’s covering all of it - keep mixing!

And then add salt and pepper and grated parmesan - if liked - and some extra fresh basil to garnish.

Super simple, super good for you and super good for this time of year as we head into winter and want our immune systems to be happy and strong.

PS. Yes, it’s unnecessary to have two almost identical photos of the dish but I’m just having one of those days where I can’t decide which I prefer!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Perfect poached chicken

I love poached chicken and it unfairly gets a bad rap.

Nothing too serious, y’know, just basically that it’s tough, boring and tasteless!

Well I, for one, love it and here’s why …

1. It keeps the chicken super-moist and delicious but you do have to cook it on a whispering murmur of a simmer for maybe 20-25 mins (not boil the crap out of it for ten mins). .

2. If you find it tasteless then try adding some flavour! A few slices of onion, a squashed garlic clove, lemon or lime, stock cube ... apparently some people add ‘leftover wine’ but I’m afraid I don’t know what that is.

3. It keeps you looking youthful! True. It’s a much more anti-ageing way of cooking - basically the more you keep hydrated the better so cooking in liquid is way better than dry grilling or frying. .

4. Yes I’m sure it does have an old-fashioned ‘diet cooking’ feel about it but hey times move on and if it was tastes great AND it’s got no added fat, what’s not to love? .

5. I forgot to mention my favourite way to poach and that’s to do so in a mixture of coconut milk and water. OMG. I add rice to the same pan too and all of a sudden you’ve got the most amazing warm salad with soft coconut rice and chicken and then crunchy veg and a super spicy sour dressing. .

5b. If you only used half a tin of coconut milk for the poaching liquid then you can chuck the rest straight into a bath for a beautiful luxurious bath milk soak.

6. It’s so versatile and you can poach enough to last the next day or so two. I love it in a spicy sour salad, in a stir fry, with noodles or as tonight in a simple salad with a mustard vinaigrette and Parmesan shavings.

7. Your dog will demand some too! And why not? It’s as healthy a snack or addition to their food as it is for us. .

Er, I really didn’t know I had so much to say about poached chicken but it seems I do

With flavours in the pan

Simmering softly

Lovely poached chicken salad

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Egg-fried cauliflower ‘rice’ with prawns

This is so good. So good.

And it has taken me SO long to get how to make cauli rice delicious!

One tip … make the cauliflower ‘rice’ first as it takes a good half an hour or so.

Or rather it takes that long to make it delicious hehe.

I’ve tried other ways. You know, just stir-frying it- and yes, you can add flavour after of course, but there’s still something kind of wet and insipid about it (in my opinion).

So I started roasting the cauliflower instead (having become a little obsessed with cauliflower ‘steaks’) and this, well I think this is delicious!

Whizz the cauliflower florets up in the food processor until they are rice-like - or couscous-like if you prefer - and then tip them into a baking tray or something where they’ll be in a relatively thin layer.

Add some sprays of oil - I use a coconut oil spray - or a little olive oil, and some salt and pepper and mix it all up and then spread evenly again.

I cooked mine on Gas 7 (medium hot) for 15 minutes, then stirred it all around and gave it another 15 minutes.

It’s personal preference really - I really like it when it’s just starting to turn a little brown, but just test and try and see what you like. You might want to cook yours for a shorter time, or give it a bit more time to brown and crisp even more.

Once done, just leave it somewhere warm while you make the rest of the dish.

Or of course use it straight away as a side dish for something else!

(Like this quick chicken and veg stir fry).

---

But to make a prawn fried ‘rice’ for one, you’ll need:

cooking oil

a few slices of onion

a garlic clove, peeled and squashed and minced

1 birds eye chilli, minced (have more or less to your taste, of course)

some red pepper, chopped

about 1/3 of a Knorr chicken (or veg) stock cube

light soy sauce

fish sauce

a little white sugar

a few raw prawns, deveined (you could use ready cooked of course)

one egg

coriander leaves to garnish (if liked) and half a lime to serve

Use a good non-stick pan, add a slosh of cooking oil and when hot add the onion, garlic, chilli and red pepper (yep, the red pepper at the same time, why not? I’ve tried waiting for the ‘aromatics’ to cook a little first and to be honest I don’t think it' makes any difference in a quick dish like this, so the simpler it is, the better).

Stir for a few second until it’s beautiful and fragrant. Make sure the garlic doesn’t burn and add a little slosh of water if it’s looking like sticking.

Then add a slightly bigger slosh of water and crumble in the piece of stock cube and bring to a boil.

Add a slosh each of light soy and fish sauce and add a pinch of sugar.

Stir and then add those lovely prawns and simmer for three minutes or so until they turn from grey to pink and are pretty much cooked.

Add the cauliflower rice and stir until it’s all hot.

There should be very little liquid left in the pan, so if you have a more try to boil some off before now, while you cook the prawns (this assumes you read the recipe in full of course before starting it, which I can’t say I always do!).

Push the whole stir fry to one side of the pan, add a tiny splash more cooking oil and then crack in the egg.

Leave it where it is and count to ten and THEN scramble it all in together and stir until it’s all perfect and the egg cooked through the mixture.

Turn out onto a plate (I pack the mixture into a little bowl and then turn over onto a plate so it keeps that lovely shape) and garnish with fresh coriander leaves if liked and serve with a wedge of lime to squeeze over.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Parmesan cauliflower ‘steak’

I’m a little bit obsessed with cauliflower ‘steak’ right now and I’m pretty sure you will be too once you try it.

You just need a nice fat slice of cauliflower, cut from the middle of the head so you have the whole piece, including the stalk, although do remove any leaves etc.

I always find on cutting my ‘steak’ piece that several florets kind of want to be a part of things too, so I just add them to the pan and have them later in a stir fry or salad (or straight from the pan after eating my steak if I’m feeling extra greedy).

Rub the steak on both sides with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Plus add whatever herbs or spices you like.

I love adding ground cumin.

You could try paprika. Or curry powder. Or chilli flakes. Or oregano. Just try it and see if you like it.

You can cook the cauliflower on a hot griddle pan for maybe ten minutes or so each side, but it gets so hot and smoky that I find roasting it in the oven easiest.

I put the cauliflower onto an oven dish and cook in a medium hot oven for 15 minutes or so and then turn for 15 minutes on the other side.

It’ll probably need a bit longer to be slightly blackened and soft and at perfect deliciousness so see what you think.

I added a handful of grated Parmesan to the top of the cauliflower for a last ten minutes cooking.

Cheddar or mozzarella would also be good.

Oh yum or how about blue cheese? Even bacon?

Or just keep it plain.

Have your cauliflower steak with salad or with stir-fried veg.

I’ve had it with steak steak (beef) and I’ve had it on noodles with charred little gem lettuce.

I think it would make an amazing burger too …. if you want another idea for a vegetarian burger, here’s my watermelon burger.

Perhaps try it with a curry sauce and rice.

Just do, do try it ….

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Watermelon burger

I might never eat a beef burger again!

This is a watermelon burger and it’s absolutely delicious. PLEASE TRY IT!!

Having seen one recipe I kept seeing watermelon burgers everywhere (you know how it is) and as I had one I thought I’d try it.

So we have …

Watermelon (peeled of course) and in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and then onto a hot griddle for 3-4 mins each side - longer if your melon burger is thicker of course.

I added the bread roll to the same griddle pan to quickly toast it.

Accompaniments were what I had in the fridge really and thought would be good.

Greek yogurt with sweet chilli sauce stirred into it (to have in place of any butter or mayo) …. but next time I’ll use something spicier as the melon is so sweet when it’s cooked

cucumber

pickles

onion slices in white vinegar to remove the sharpness

feta cheese crumbled over - you could try other cheeses melted onto the melon - goat’s cheese would be good. Ideally a tangy cheese I think

---

The melon is a delight. Warm and sweet and a little charred.

I actually can’t wait to make this on a barbecue and surprise everyone with how good it is!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Greek yogurt coleslaw

I think coleslaw looks nicer when it’s shredded into thin strips and probably just wins on texture too, but I just wanted to make something super-fast, so whizzed it quickly in the food processor instead.

To make enough for two, I used:

1/2 small green cabbage

1/2 red cabbage

2 carrots, peeled and quartered

1/2 white onion

I also finely chopped a green chilli to stir into the vegetables (I don’t think the food processor would have minced it finely enough).

And for the dressing:

Greek yogurt (about 100g - it was what was left in the carton)

The juice of half a lemon

A teaspoon of honey

A teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper to taste

To save time (and washing up) I just mixed it all into the Greek yogurt pot as I was using the last 100ml or so that were in there, so it just made sense instead of using a bowl.

Taste and adjust any seasonings to your liking and then stir into the vegetable mixture.

For a really speedy lunch, have it with some cold leftover roast chicken or other cooked meat.

It would also be great with burgers or veg-burgers.

This is one of those salads that just tastes so much better than it looks!

So it you’re after a quick lunch or a healthy coleslaw recipes, do try this one.

---

---

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 …

Delicious eggy noodles

This one’s just a quick idea for an easy lunch or supper.

And yes it does look bland, but I promise it’s anything but!

In the fridge I had one raw egg plus one egg white in a bowl (from a bit of mishap earlier separating yolk from white so had to use a second egg).

The obvious thought was omelette but I just wasn’t feeling it (which is odd as I LOVE omelettes) so I made this instead.

1 clove of garlic peeled and minced and into a slosh of oil in a non-stick pan

Add a piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated on the fine side of the grater

Added in the rice noodles (already prepared as per pack instructions)

Plus a dried red chilli, crumbled (or a pinch of dried red chilli flakes)

Stir, add a few drops of water if it’s sticking, keep it moving so it’s all hot

Add a slosh of light soy sauce, stir more

Then push the noodles back to make a space in the pan, add some more oil, wait a few seconds for it to heat up and then pour in the egg/s.

I count to 10 and then start scrambling it into the noodle mixture until it’s all scrambled and lovely.

Maybe finish with a drop of toasted sesame oil if you fancy it.

I love the juxtaposition of the spicy flavour and then the soft texture of the almost creamy eggy noodles.

Garnish with some coriander or parsley leaves if you have any - it would have looked nice to have had some greenery on top!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Summer spaghetti with courgettes

A lot of us probably have a glut of courgettes right now, trying to pick them before they seemingly overnight turn from tiny to marrow-sized monsters!

I like to peel and julienne them and have raw in a spicy Thai-style salad - they have a very similar texture to green papaya so make a great substitute when you’re craving som tam.

And last week at my sister’s in Cornwall (first time out on a train since lockdown! Seeing the sea! Seeing family!) we made a really nice lunch from a recipe I’d been reading (by Letitia Clark) and immediately wanted to try.

As the courgettes were begging to be picked and cooked, it was pretty immediate too.

That recipe is HERE and is a delicious Italian dish of slow-cooked courgettes with mint, chilli and almonds. We had it warm with crusty baguette and my favourite Roquefort cheese.

So when I arrived home a couple of nights later, yes to the sound of those begging courgettes here too, I made a kind of version of this to have with spaghetti.

I am slightly obsessed with very simple pasta recipes this year and this is now a new favourite. Cook the courgettes slowly so they’re a bit mushy and creamy and they are just perfect with the spaghetti and a good grating of fresh parmesan cheese.

Quantities are really up to you as you can make as much as you like, perhaps saving any leftover courgette sauce for lunch the next day, or just because you already know you’re going to be wanting more than one bowl of this summer lushness.

But this is what I used to make enough sauce for two:

olive oil

2 courgettes, washed, sliced lengthways and then into thin horizontal slices

1 clove of garlic, peele and squashed and finely minced (there’s two in this photo but I changed my mind and used on one - you use what feels right for you)

2 anchovies from the jar, with a little of their oil, roughly chopped (optional - just leave out if you don’t have or don’t like)

1 dried red chilli, or just a pinch of dried red chilli flakes

1 big fat spring onion, topped and tailed, any tough outer layer removed, and sliced

zest and juice of half a lemon

fresh mint and/or parsley leaves, chopped

salt and pepper to season

fresh parmesan to grate over

---

OK, so firstly, I’m going to ignore the cooking of the spaghetti as I’m sure you’ll get that underway while the courgettes are cooking.

Personally I bring a big saucepan of water to the boil with a pinch of salt and when boiling add the spaghetti, stirring as it folds into the water, and then cook for - I think - ten minutes, maybe 11.

I like to do this alongside the sauce so that if the sauce needs loosening at all I can use a little of the nice hot starchy pasta water to do so.

---

Anyway.

Put a good sized non-stick pan over a medium heat, add a slosh of olive oil and then courgettes and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 5-10 minutes until they start to slightly brown in places. Add a slosh of water if it looks like sticking though at any time and take it slowly and gently - maybe reduce that medium heat to a medium-low if that’s feeling more like it for you today.

Throw in the anchovies, reduce the heat to low and stir, stir, stir (gently) for a minute or two until the anchovies do their anchovy trick of just vanishing and leaving behind a full savoury slight saltiness to the dish (without tasting fishy either).

Crumble in the dried chilli and add the spring onion and a little slosh of water and cook for another ten minutes of so on a low heat with the pan covered, stirring every once in a while.

Uncover the pan, stir and taste. Add the lemon zest and juice, and the herbs, stir again and taste again before adding seasoning.

You can cook for a bit longer of course if you’d like your courgettes even creamier and mushier.

You might not need to add salt if you added the anchovies but a good grind of pepper might be good.

Tip the spaghetti into the pan of sauce to make sure it’s thoroughly coated and then put into a bowl and grate over (lots of) fresh parmesan.

So summery, so good and so good for using up those courgettes too!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Beautiful Asian-inspired spaghetti

I’m currently, unashamedly, singularly, OBSESSED with the simplest pastas.

Which means yet again it’s pretty impossible to show in a picture just how good this is.

I’d actually wanted noodles but didn’t have any (I KNOW - outrageous, right?).

So I cooked some beautiful spaghetti. And this turned out so gorgeous I’m GLAD I was out of noodles.

I warmed oil in a pan and added garlic and spring onions and chilli and after 30 seconds or so when it smelt really good, I added a big ladle of the pasta cooking water and crumbled in 1/3 of a chicken Knorr stock cube and a slosh of light soy sauce.

Next time I make this i might add a little grated fresh ginger too at the start along with the garlic, onions and chilli.

Cooked for three minutes, simmering. Added the spaghetti that was deliberately a little under cooked and cooked for two more minutes.

Added a teaspoon or so toasted sesame oil and let it simmer for another minute. And then added just a little salt and a sprinkling of dried chilli flakes for seasoning.

Here’s the reminder of what you’ll need to make this:

Spaghetti

Olive oil

Garlic

Spring onions

One fresh red or green hot chilli

Pasta cooking water

A little Knorr chicken stock cube

Light soy sauce

Toasted sesame oil

Salt

Dried chilli flakes

This was so satisfying and so quick.

I really, really liked this.

It has so much of everything I love about it - it’s simple, classic, easy and has some of my favourite flavours.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Simplest spicy-sour steak salad

When you want healthy and light and fast … but also incredibly luxurious and special, this quick steak and salad is going to be perfect.

To make it for one, one gorgeous one who totally deserves a luxe delicious lunch, you’ll need:

1 steak of your choice - my favourite is rump

1 small dried red chilli, crumbled or 1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (you could use fresh chilli if you prefer)

1 small clove of garlic, peeled, crushed and finely diced

The juice of one juicy lime

A good slosh (maybe 1.5 teaspoons) fish sauce

1 teaspoon caster sugar (granulated will work too though)

A tablespoon of water

Dressing of lime, chilli, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and water.

A few cherry tomatoes, halved

A few spring onions, cleaned and sliced on the diagonal so you get nice long pieces

Take your steak from the fridge about half an hour before you’re going to cook it and toss it in a little light soy sauce and a little cooking oil. Massage it all in on both sides and leave until you’re ready to cook.

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and taste. Adjust to see if you need any more of anything to make it perfect for you.

Add the tomatoes and spring onions to the dressing to kind of marinade and soak in all the lovely flavours while you cook your steak.

Cook the steak on a griddle or in a non-stick frying pan to your liking and then leave to rest on a chopping board for a minute of two.

Slice the steak, arrange on a plate and tip over the dressing and salad.

And that’s literally all there is to it!

You could add more salad ingredients if you wanted of course, or fresh herbs (parsley or coriander would be good) or even have this with rice to make it more substantial.

Easy, fast and feels luxurious as well - one of my favourite special lunches just for me.

I hope you love it too.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Blue cheese + broccoli spaghetti

This is so simple and so good.

No ingredients list needed really.

But … oh ok then … this is what I used for a big greedy portion for one person …

---

spaghetti

broccoli

olive oil

garlic clove, minced

green chilli, minced

lots of blue cheese, Gorgonzola ideally

fresh basil leaves, if you have them

---

I just brought a big of water to the boil with a big pinch of salt and cooked the spaghetti for eight minutes.

Added broccoli chopped into quite small bits and boiled for another three minutes.

Drained and ran cold water over so it all stopped cooking any further.

Put a big non-stick pan over a medium heat and added a a dash of oil plus one garlic clove, ;peeled and finely chopped and a green chilli, finely chopped (omit the chilli if you don’t want it spicy of course).

After maybe 30 seconds I tipped in the spaghetti and the broccoli plus some of their cooking water to keep it loose and light and easy.

Also added quite a lot of lovely chopped up Stilton cheese, but any blue cheese will do. I think Gorgonzola would be perfect … but Stilton is what I had.

Put a lid on the pan and cook on a low simmering heat for maybe three minutes more.

Remove from heat, check seasoning, add a few leaves of fresh basil if you have them.

This is a super-simple dish that is just WAY more than the sum of its parts!

Just gorgeous.

And decadent.

And quick.

What more could you ask from an easy quick supper?

NOTHING. RIEN.

It’s kinda perfect.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

So simple, so good - & it's just aubergine, tomato, onion, chickpeas

Yep I did actually pretty much write a whole recipe in the title!

So let’s write this recipe quickly too so you can just get on with making and eating this.

It’s so simple and so good.

I bought a beautiful glossy aubergine the other day - just because it was so beautiful and so glossy … and then didn’t know what to make with it.

i asked my friends on FB for their suggestions, recommendations and recipes and chose to make the simplest - sent by my friend Amoul.

OK, confession .

Even though I have eaten in Amoul’s restaurant and so tried her wonderful food, and not just once, oh no …

But I STILL read the simple recipe she kindly shared with me on my asking for help and I read it and I thought, ‘mmmmm I’m not sure about this, it sounds a bit bland’.

I asked her several questions, almost like I wanted it to be more complicated, like I didn’t really get that this much simplicity would be so delicious.

But hey - I have eaten her amazing food and I see her mouth-watering posts and I know she knows all about simple delicious food.

So I trusted.

And oh my goodness, it was utterly delicious.

My dinner didn’t even make it to a bowl or plate, I ate it straight from the pan.

Then I stopped and tipped the rest into a dish so that I would have some the next day (this is enough for two portions).

And then I got the spoon again and dug right back in again.

Amoul suggested serving with rice.

Not a chance here! I tried it and I couldn’t stop eating it.

This is definitely a new regular dinner over here and I hope you love it too. I think it would also be a very lovely accompaniment to some simple baked or pan-fried white fish.

Also - go follow Amoul …

---

Oops sorry, chatted on there more than I’d meant to.

This will make enough for two but if you have rice with it maybe more. Or maybe just make as much as you can as it’ll keep in the fridge a couple of days anyway.

Here’s what you need …

one white onion, peeled and finely chopped

a tablespoon of olive oil

one lovely beautiful glossy aubergine (eggplant) washed and diced

a tiny crumble (maybe a quarter) of a Knorr stock cube - but just omit if you don’t have/don’t want

three nice happy large vine tomatoes (more if small) peeled and chopped

salt and pepper

one tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

rice to serve, if liked

---

Saute the onion in the oil over a low heat, stirring often, for AGES - or it feels like ages anyway.

Don’t let it burn or stick so add a splash of water if needed.

Just go gentle, this is a very gentle dish.

Let it saute at its own pace - maybe up to 10 minutes - until soft and translucent.

Add the diced aubergine and the little crumble of stock cube, if using, and a little splash of water and stir.

Cook gently with a lid on the pan, stirring every now and then, for 6 or 7 minutes.

Check that the aubergine is really softening and cook a little longer if not.

Add in those lovely peeled fresh tomatoes and also now’s when to add the seasoning - so salt and pepper to taste.

I’d go a little tiny bit more heavy handed than you might normally do, but remember you can always add more, can’t take away.

Cover the pan again and simmer - gently - for another five minutes then stir and taste.

Add the tin of drained, rinsed chick peas, stir.

Add a little water if needed but it shouldn’t need.

Cover and simmer - gently - for a few minutes, maybe three.

Take the lid off, turn up the heat a little if it’s very liquid and cook for another minute or two.

Taste, add more salt and pepper if needed.

Try not to eat the whole thing straight from the pan yourself but let others also have some dinner ….

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Super simple jerk sauce / jerk chicken

Oh my goodness look at these scotch bonnet chillies! I love scotch bonnets - they’re properly spicy but also have that lovely fruity tanginess to them.

This photo is one a friend sent me of the beautiful display at her local shop - and then sent me five chillies in the post (this was written in lockdown times, should you be reading it later) as we can’t meet up right now.

So I made jerk chicken and this simple jerk sauce is so easy and delicious I wanted to share it and you could use it with fish or vegetables too.

I confess I have absolutely no idea how authentic or not this is - it’s a simplified version of the one from Jamie Oliver’s 30-minute meals book (which I LOVE by the way - I don’t try to cook them in 30 minutes but there’s lots of great ideas there that I have taken inspiration from).

There are two ingredients here that might be a little harder to get but that to me you absolutely have to have … and that’s the scotch bonnet chillies (rather than using any other variety) and the golden rum. DO track ‘em down because I think they’re what makes this dish just so good.

So … ingredients - and this will be enough for either two or four I think, just one has more sauce but you can play around with it of course and just make what looks good to you.

1 scotch bonnet chilli, diced

2 spring onions, sliced

2 fat (or more smaller) cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped

1 heaped teaspoon Allspice

1 big tablespoon runny honey

6 tablespoons golden rum

6 tablespoons white wine vinegar or scant ones of white malt vinegar as I used

---

And then you just blend it all up to make a sauce, literally, that’s it.

I like to slice the chicken breasts in half to make them thinner, leaving them joined at one end, and ideally with skin-on, but I only had skinless so that’s what I used.

I season them and massage in olive oil and cook on the griddle (or in a non-stick pan) for a few minutes until golden each side. If your chicken has skin then start with the skin side down.

Then pour the sauce into an oven dish and lay the chicken on top and cook in a medium oven for maybe 20 minutes turning once halfway.

I’d also add fresh thyme and rosemary too now but have to confess I was just too lazy to down to the garden to get any! I will do next time and will add another picture - it’ll look much prettier and definitely worth adding for the extra flavour, but I still really love it just as it is.

Check if the chicken is done, cook a little longer if needed.

Serve with rice and salad. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander if you have any and if you like it.

I’ve realised writing this up that I was missing a lot of things that would make it even better, but hey it was still good … and very, very simple … and that counts for a lot for me.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Gamja-jeon- Korean potato pancake with dipping sauce

Now, there’s some foods I just see a photo of and HAVE to make, or find, pretty much immediately!

When my niece, Mia, posted this on her insta recently - having returned from a trip to South Korea at the end of last year - well, this was one of them. She also has some other cool food ideas so if you want to go and check them out (and her beautiful singing) then the link’s HERE.

OK, straight onto this little beauty then.

Easy and delicious equals just about my favourite food ever and this is a traditional Korean potato pancake with a little dipping sauce.

Here’s what you’ll need for a good big pancake lunch for one, or as a side dish for two:

1 large potato, peeled and grated (mind your hands, I DID grate mine a little, yes)

About 1/4 of a finely sliced and chopped white onion or a few spring onions, finely sliced

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon or so of plain flour

Combine the ingredients and then when adding the flour, mix until it’s a kind of sloppy dough consistency - add a little more if needed.

Then get a good non-stick pan on over a medium heat and add a good slosh of an oil that heats to a high temperature and doesn’t have too much flavour - grapeseed or rapeseed is ideal but a vegetable oil works too.

When hot, tip in the potato mixture and start to shape into a flat pancake.

When it’s nice and flat let it cook for about four minutes then turn (carefully not breaking the pancake) and cook for another four on the other side.

Add a little more oil if needed.

We want a nice crispy browned pancake so see what yours needs by now …. I turned the heat down a little, turned the pancake again and cooked for another three minutes on each side.

While the potato pancake cooks, mix up the dipping sauce.

You’ll need:

2 spring onions finely chopped (optional)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar (I didn’t have any so just used white malt vinegar)

the juice of one lime or lemon

1 chopped hot chilli

1 teaspoon of sugar

Stir to combine and dissolve the sugar then taste and see if you want to add more sugar, more lime, more vinegar?

When it’s as you like it, it’s ready.

Serve and eat the delicious hot crunchy potato pancake with the cool spicy dipping sauce and maybe squeeze over a little more lime juice, if liked.

I thought this was absolutely delicious and so simple too - I’ve made it three times this week … oops!

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Easiest storecupboard tortilla/wrap ‘pizza’

Well, I only like very thin and crispy pizza bases so using one of these wraps just really works for me - I love it!

Plus it’s so simple and fast too.

Aha … but it’s fast if you already have some of this delicious tomato sauce in the fridge (and personally, I’m thinking I now need a batch in the fridge at all times) or you have a tomato pizza sauce that you like ready to use.

So, assuming you have your chosen tomato sauce ready to go, let’s go ….

For each wrap pizza, you’ll need:

tortilla / wraps (mine has got quinoa and chia and is so delish)

a good tomato sauce, whether homemade or store-bought

a big handful of grated mozzarella cheese (or cheddar, or a combination of both)

whatever other toppings you want! You might choose tuna, or mushrooms, or sweetcorn, or anything really. I had capers and some dried chilli flakes

And then I just took the grill off the grilling pan and put the pan in a hot oven for a couple of minutes to heat up.

Using oven gloves (ok, a tea towel) then took the pan out of the oven and put it over the hob and laid the tortilla wrap on it.

I spread the tomato sauce all over it and sprinkled over the cheese, then added the capers and some dried red chilli flakes.

Put back into the oven, now reduced to a medium heat, for ten minutes.

Then I put it under the grill for literally a minute or two more and that was that.

Crispy, cheesy, amazing tomato sauce. So simple, so delicious, so kind of just …. GOOD.

And we all need some just good right now.

I hope you like this one too.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Beautiful simple tomato sauce

There’s something that right now feels very comforting about taking a while over something and also about making something really simple to eat.

This is the easiest tomato sauce but what makes it beautiful is giving it that time to simmer.

It’s not just heating up a tin of tomatoes, it’s allowing those tomatoes to release flavour and create texture and just become something so much more delicious that you might think this would be.

I made enough for two portions so just double up to make enough for four - and actually that’s probably even easier and it’ll keep in the fridge for a couple of days, so when I make it again that’s what I’ll be doing.

But today, what I used was:

A good slosh of olive oil - maybe a tablespoon or so

1/2 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 tin of chopped tomatoes

salt and black pepper

basil leaves would be lovely if you have them (I didn’t)

Put a non-stick deep frying pan or a saucepan over a low heat, add the olive oil and then the chopped onion and garlic.

Fry very gently until translucent - it’ll take longer than you think - if the garlic looks like it’s burning add a little more oil or a tiny splash of water.

Then tip in the tomatoes.

When it’s empty, pour water into the tin, give it a good slosh around to get the last bits of tomato and add half a tin of water to the pan.

Add salt and some freshly ground black pepper - and don’t be shy about it, this sauce needs these seasonings!

Bring to the boil then reduce heat so it’s just on the very gentlest simmer - and cook, covered, for half an hour, checking in on it and stirring now and then.

If you have fresh basil, throw in a few torn leaves right at the end.

And that’s it. It was so good I was literally standing eating it off a spoon straight from the pan.

I don’t need to tell you what to use this for - pastas and pizzas or on toast, or anything really - including these super-simple-fast tortilla/wrap ‘pizzas’.

I don’t really know why but right now in these very difficult and uncertain times, making (and eating) this made me feel more grounded so that in itself was just a very good thing for me to have done today - and I hope it does for you too.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …

Spaghetti for sick days

Spaghetti for when you’re just not feeling so good …. why this recipe?

Because it’s super-simple when you don’t want to faff about making anything more complicated.

Because it’s just perfect comfort food.

And because lots of lovely immune system boosting garlic and antioxident-rich broccoli

And because this one just feels nurturing and lovely. Treating yourself is the best idea when you’re under the weather.

---

Cook wholemeal spaghetti in a big pan of boiling water with a pinch of salt for about eight minutes and throw the broccoli in for the last few minutes (approx 4-5).

And then it’s all about making the garlic sauce … the trick is not to put garlic into hot oil all sizzling and burning - no, this is about kind of infusing the olive oil with the garlic.

So the peeled and sliced garlic (one clove or two, up to you, but I’d go with two) is added to the cold pan with cold oil, heated so slowly and when just about to sizzle, remove the pan from the heat and stir again, cool down and little.

Repeat. And repeat. And ... if necessary, repeat.

When you’ve made a beautiful fragrant infused garlic olive oil ... THEN allow it to come to a sizzle and then add in 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes and a ladle full of the pasta cooking water.

Simmer for a minute or two, add the spaghetti and broccoli and keep turning in that gorgeous oil.

Add some grated Parmesan and stir through.

Remove from heat; add more cheese and some ground black pepper and that’s it.

---

---

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE …