Spanish-style baked eggs

For some reason, I woke up this morning with a craving for this dish. Laura usually makes breakfast but she was out delivering cakes this morning and so I immediately set to it.

I have previously made a Moroccan meatball dish that involves baking eggs in the sauce, so this was just a simple variation of that dish.

If you fancy something with a little more oomph, you could use hot chilli powder (or better yet chopped chillis) instead of paprika and you could add some sliced chorizo at the beginning if you are a voracious meat-eater. I didn't have any this morning, or I would have done so.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
a generous glug of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp paprika
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried basil or 1tbsp fresh basil
1 tbsp tomato puree
salt and pepper, to taste
4 eggs
a couple of handfuls of fresh spinach, washed

Serves 4

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C. Prep the onion and garlic.

1. Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan. Gently fry the onion (and chorizo, if using) for 5 mins, then increase the heat, add the garlic and paprika and fry for a further minute.

2. Pour in the balsamic and reduce down over a high heat, then add the tomatoes, basil and puree.

3. Reduce down for about 15 mins or until your sauce is nice and thick. Add salt and pepper according to your taste.

4. Line 4 shallow earthenware dishes or ramekins with spinach leaves, layering them in a spiral effect, and pour in the sauce. Make a well in the centre using a soup/tablespoon and break an egg into the middle of each dish. Be careful not to split the yolks as the best thing about this dish is a runny yolk. Bake on the middle shelf of your preheated oven for approx. 8 mins or until the egg whites have almost set. They will continue to cook for a while when they are out of the oven.

5. Serve with warm pitta or a nice crusty roll for some serious dunkage! (see below)

10 minute creamy salmon spaghetti

This was a bit of a throw together dish tonight and I had to improvise a bit as I didn't have all the ingredients for what I had intended to make. This was supposed to be a salmon carbonara but I discovered that we had run out of eggs, so I quickly had to change direction but we were both extremely pleased with the end destination. unfortunately, I have no pics at this time as we were both ravenous and had gobbled it whole before I had remembered to get the camera out.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

100g dried spaghetti
100g smoked salmon (roughly chopped into 1cm pieces)
75ml double cream
75g cream cheese
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
1 tbsp mild olive oil
1 pickled gherkin (finely diced)
Black pepper

Method:

1. Bring a medium pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for 10 mins, or until it is cooked through but still has a little bite (al dente). It is always best to read the packet as different brands can vary in cooking times.

2. Towards the end of the cooking time, in a slightly larger pan fry over the garlic in the oil over medium heat for 1 min then remove from heat.

3. Mix together the cream, cream cheese and a generous twist of cracked black pepper.

4. When the pasta is cooked, drain it quickly and add the hot pasta to the garlic oil and toss to coat the pasta in the oil. Stir in the cheese and cream mixture, followed by the chopped smoked salmon and diced gherkin. Stir until the pasta is completely covered in the sauce and the salmon has turned a soft pink colour. Serve immediately with another generous twist of black pepper.

Tangy Caraway King Prawns

This vibrant dish is a slimmer's dream. It's packed full of flavour - the caraway and fresh coriander give it a very distinctive taste that will stick in the memory. If you want something more substantial, you could add some cooked spaghetti or linguine when you stir in the prawns.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp caraway seeds

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 green pepper, finely diced

400g can of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp tomato puree

215g raw king prawns

1 tbsp fresh coriander, torn

Salt and pepper

Optional: 100g spaghetti or linguine

Method:

Firstly, cook your prawns by bringing a pan of lightly salted water to the boil, adding the prawns and reduce the temperature to medium. The prawns will turn pink and most will start to float when cooked (not all though). Don't let them curl up too tightly or they will be tough! Stop them from continuing to cook by draining and rinsing them under cold water. Score them all a few times on each side with a sharp knife, just using the weight of the knife as you run the blade across them. This will give them more flavour when they take on the sauce. Set aside the prawns until the end.

If you are adding pasta, cook this according to the pack minus 1 minute, rinse under cold water and set aside until the end.

Brush a medium sized saucepan with the oil and bring to a low heat. Gently fry the garlic for a couple of minutes, then add the caraway seeds and chilli flakes, stir and fry for a further minute.

Increase the heat, stir in the green pepper and fry for another minute before adding the tomatoes and puree, salt and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and the peppers softened.

Stir in the prawns (and pasta, if using) and heat gently for 2 more minutes, stirring to make sure that they are well coated with sauce. Serve in bowls with some fresh coriander scattered atop.

Smoked Mackerel Florentine

This ridiculously healthy dish can be made in just 10 minutes and it is dead easy! It's full of vitamins, looks great and is surprisingly filling for it's size. What more needs to be said?

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1 smoked mackerel fillet, cut in half
100g fresh spinach
Black pepper

Method:

1. Place the fish halves in a small pan and pour over just enough water to cover the fish. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 5-6 mins.

2. Meanwhile, start to bring a shallow pan of water to the boil. Also, wash the spinach leaves in a colander, then place the still wet leaves into an empty saucepan and cook over a medium heat until they have all wilted and look a little soggy. Sieve and pat down with the back of a spoon to drain any excess water.

3. When the shallow pan starts to bubble gently, stir to make an eddy and pour your eggs in. I always break my eggs into 2 separate cups to begin with to both ensure that the eggs are fresh and that I don't break the yolk, as well as to be able to put both eggs in to the pan fairly quickly after one another. Skim off any scrum that forms on the surface of the water and remove the eggs once the white has set right up to the yolk. Lift out with a slotted spoon.

4. The dish should be arranged spinach on the bottom, followed by fish (remove the skin first) and sit the poached egg on top. Season with plenty of black pepper and serve while the egg is hot and yolk nice and leaky.

Ras el hanout Chicken with Tabbouleh

This is a super easy (and healthy) meal that we frequently have for lunch or supper throughout the summer months. In my opinion, nothing beats the fresh bold flavours of a tabbouleh. Technically, the recipe for this tabbouleh has been stolen from my brother but he won't mind. Anyway, this time I have used bulgur wheat instead of couscous, so 'technically' it is a different recipe! The lightly spiced chicken breast and spoonful of natural yoghurt (low-fat, of course) complete this dish perfectly.
Ras el hanout is actually a special blend of spices from Morocco that can vary considerably from household to household. You can have a go at making your own if you like, or you can just go down the local shop. Most supermarkets will stock at least one version, but they can vary from quite sweet to very spicy, so be wary if you can't handle the hot stuff!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, all visible fat trimmed
4 tbsp ras el hanout
100g bulgur wheat
175g cherry tomatoes, quartered (or halved, if small)
1/4 cucumber, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed
a handful of fresh mint, finely chopped
a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
4 tbsp low-fat natural yoghurt

Method:

Preheat your grill to 200C.

Meanwhile, cook your bulgur wheat in a saucepan that has a lid by covering the bulgur wheat with plenty of cold water and bringing to the boil. Stir once, put the lid on and reduce the heat to low, and don't take the lid off for 15 mins. Drain, rinse under cold water and set aside to drain thoroughly.

Place your chicken breasts between two sheets of cling film and hit (not too heavily) with the end of a rolling pin to flatten them so that they cook evenly throughout. Using a sharp knife, score the chicken breasts lightly and rub the chicken with the ras el hanout making sure to get some of the rub in the newly made cuts. Grill your chicken for 12 mins or until there is no pink in the middle, turning half way through. There is no need to rub the chicken with oil or butter at this point - the chicken will not dry out.

Once the bulgur wheat has drained, fluff up with a fork and pour into a serving bowl. Mix in the salad vegetables, lemon juice, garlic and herbs with a serving spoon. I don't see any need to season this dish but if you like your sea salt and black pepper, go ahead.

Separate into four bowls, slice your chicken and layer on top with a spoonful of natural yoghurt each.

Fibonacci Stir-fry

The Fibonacci sequence is found in the most unusual places as it is with this simple stir-fry. The first four numbers (1, 1, 2, 3) represent the numbers of tablespoons of different ingredients I use to make the sauce to this wonderfully flavoured dish. 1 tablespoon of cornflour, 1 of rice vinegar, 2 of fish sauce and 3 of light soy sauce. This is the perfect amount to coat a stir-fry for two people. Simply multiply the numbers in the sequence by as many couples as you are cooking for to get the right balance of flavour. I guarantee this will work every time - it truly is the golden ratio. Anyway, enough geeky stuff and back to the cooking...as is now standard with all of my new posts, this recipe aims to reduce the amount of fat and calories in it.

Serves 2 with plenty of leftover veg (add another steak and it will feed 4)

Ingredients:

1 x 175g Sirloin Steak, trimmed of fat and thinly sliced across the grain

1/2 a head of broccoli, cut into inch sized florets

1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks

6 chestnut mushrooms, wiped and halved

6 baby sweetcorn, halved

A handful of mangetout, ends trimmed

1/4 Savoy cabbage, shredded (or 1 pak choi, if available)

1/2 green pepper, sliced lengthwise

4 spring onions, halved and finely sliced lengthwise

2 birdseye chillies, deserved and sliced lengthwise

An inch of root ginger, peeled and grated

2 garlic gloves, crushed

1 tbsp groundout oil

1 nest of fine rice noodles

For the sauce:

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)

3 tbsp light soy sauce

Method:

Thoroughly wash your vegetables and bring a small saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Make up the sauce by whisking together all of the ingredients in a small bowl with a fork.

1. Brush a large wok with the oil, bring to a low heat and fry the ginger, garlic and chillies for a few minutes, before increasing the heat and adding the carrot for another minute.

2. Add the broccoli, peppers, baby corn, mushrooms and mangetout and stir-fry over a medium-high heat for a few minutes. At the same time, add the noodles to the boiling water and reduce to a simmer for 3 mins. Drain and reserve the noodles til the end.

3. Increase the heat again, move the veg to one side of the wok and add the steak strips to the other side to flash fry for about 30 secs before adding the spring onions and sauce, remembering to give the sauce one last quick whisk before it is added. Add the cooked noodles and mix it all together so that everything gets a light coat of sauce. If you're finding it tough to stir together add a little water, but not too much. Remember, everything should just have a light coating of sauce. If it's swimming in sauce at the end, you've added too much.

4. Serve hot and use chopsticks, it'll slow down your eating so you won't eat as much because you'll be full before you finish. If you don't, it doesn't matter as the veg all counts towards your 5-a day and are nil points if you're on weight watchers. If you're being extra careful, leave out the noodles and bulk it out with trimmed beansprouts.

Healthier King Prawn & Smoked Salmon Risotto

I know last year I posted a similar recipe, but Laura and I started a healthy eating plan earlier this week so I've started adapting our favourite recipes to include less calories but with just as much flavour! I actually prefer this recipe to the full-fat version, so it just goes to show that you can eat sensibly and not miss out on taste.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
225g arborio rice
1 small onion (finely diced)
1 large garlic clove (crushed)
150ml dry white wine
850ml vegetable stock
1 medium courgette (finely diced)
1 red bell pepper (finely diced)
50g frozen peas
220g smoked salmon
220g raw king prawns
2tbsp fresh chopped parsley

Method:

Firstly cook your prawns by bringing some lightly salted water to the boil, add the prawns and simmer for a couple of minutes until they turn pink and start to curl slightly. Rinse them under cold water to stop the cooking process. Set aside until the end. Make up your stock and keep in a pan on a low heat.

1. Brush a large wok or deep-sided frying pan with the olive oil and heat gently. Add the chopped onion, garlic and rice and gently fry for a few minutes, then stir in the wine. Increase the heat to medium.

2. Once the wine is bubbling, add 2 ladlefuls of stock and stir continuously for 5 mins.

3. Add the vegetables and keep ladling in the stock as it is absorbed by the rice, until all of the stock has been added. This should take approximately 15 mins.

4. Add the prawns, salmon and parsley, and plenty of cracked black pepper, and stir for another couple of mins until the last of the stock has been absorbed. Serve and enjoy.

As tempting as it is to have some crusty bread with this, we found that we didn't need it as the rice is filling enough.