Low carb recipes

Creamy Meatballs with Mushrooms

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One of the numerous things I’m missing in lockdown is a cheeky visit to a well known Swedish furniture super store. This includes spending twice what I meant to and eating my own weight in meatballs.

You can freeze the meat balls (before they have been added to the sauce), and these make a really handy mid week meal. They can be added to a tomato sauce with pasta or in a meatball sub.

This creamy version is great for anyone following a keto or low carb diet. It’s also great with mashed potatoes or pasta for anyone who anyone who is isn’t reducing their carb intake.

Ingredients

For the meatballs

500 Grams Minced beef

250 Grams Minced pork

1 Egg (beaten)

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Black pepper

1 Tsp Garlic granules, or 2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

For the sauce

250 Grams Mushrooms (sliced)

1 Tbsp Oil

250 ml Beef stock

250 ml Double cream

1 Tbsp Chopped parsley (optional)

Baked meatballs

Method

  1. Add all the ingredients for the meatballs to a large bowl and mix well with your hands to make sure the ingredients are well combined.
  2. Make meatballs slightly smaller than a golf ball and place in an oven proof dish. When all the mix has been used to make the meatballs, refrigerate for at least an hour to set
  3. Preheat your oven to 180 degree and bake the meatballs for 25 minutes
  4. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the mushrooms stirring occasionally until soft.
  5. Add the beef stock and cream to the mushrooms and alow to simmer over a medium heat for 5-10 minutes or until the sauce has started to thicken.
  6. Add the cooked meatballs to the sauce, and simmer for s further five minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and then serve

Sichuan Pork and Green Beans

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I have to give a shout out to my friend Nuala for turning me into this, and I love it.

If you haven’t used Sichuan pepper before you can by it ready ground in most big supermarkets. You can also buy packets of the whole peppercorns, and are reddish black in colour. While there is some heat, they are also really aromatic and work nicely in lots of other recipes.

This makes a great mid week dinner and is ideal for anyone following a low carb diet. If you’re not then enjoy this with rice or noodles. I used frozen greens to save time.

Ingredients

250 Grams Minced pork

500 Grams Green beans blanched on boiling water

Thumb sized piece of ginger (grated)

2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

2 Scallions/spring onions (finely chopped)

1 Red chilli pepper (finely chopped)

2 Tbsp Soy sauce

1 Tbsp Sesame oil

1 Tsp Ground Sichuan pepper

Method

  1. Blanch the green beans in boiling water and drain
  2. Fry the minced pork in a large frying pan or wok until no longer pink
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a further 5 minutes. If the mix starts to catch in the pan you can add a little water to stop this

Cheese and Broccoli Soup

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Serve with chunky croutons for some crunch

I don’t make soup that often (some soups are a little dull).

Anything with cheese in it gets my vote, and this is rich and satisfying.

Ideal for anyone following a low carb diet, this is also delicious with crusty bread.  I made this with vegetable stock so it’s suitable for vegetarians but you can use chicken stock if you prefer.

You’ll need cream cheese and a stronger flavoured cheese.  I used a mix of mature cheddar and parmigiana, blue cheese works really well too, but use what you have.

This rich creamy soup is even tastier topped with crunchy croutons, or crispy bacon (if you’re not vegetarian)

Ingredients

1 Large head of broccoli (roughly chopped)

1 Small onion, or 3-4 spring onions/scallions (chopped)

1 Tbsp Oil

750 ml Vegetable stock (I used a stock cube)

200 Grams Cream cheese

50 Grams Strong flavour cheese (grated)

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Heat the oil in a large pot, and add the onion. Fry over a medium heat until soft but don’t brown
  2. Add the broccoli and vegetable stock. Cover with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes or until the broccoli is soft
  3. Add the cream cheese and stir until it has melted. Using a blender or hand held blender, blitz until the the soup it is smooth (how smooth you make it is up to you)
  4. Return the soup to the pot and add the stronger flavoured cheese. Heat for a further 5 minutes and stir well to make sure all the cheese has melted. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed

Five Spice Pork Belly

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Crispy and deeply delicious.

I love pork belly. If I go to a restaurant (remember those). I’m really predictable, if pork belly is on the menu that’s what I’m ordering.

If you haven’t tried it before, it’s pretty rich and can be fatty, but it’s also really tasty. I enjoy it, cooked long and slow, and then crisped up in the pan.

Pork belly lends itself particularly to Asian flavours. I like to marinade the pork, usually over night but at least for an hour.

This is really versatile, and freezes well. It’s great served with salad (if you’re following a keto or low carb diet), or sliced in sandwiches with coleslaw. Its also really good sliced and served with noodles. You can crisp it up on a barbecue instead of the pan for a delicious smokey flavour.

Marinade the pork for at least 1 hour

Ingredients

500 Grams Pork belly strips

2 Tbsp Soy sauce

1 Tbsp Sesame oil

2 Tsp Chinese five spice powder

1 Tsp White wine vinegar (or what ever vinegar you have, just not something really strong like malt vinegar)

1 Tbsp Sesame seeds (optional)

Method

  1. Cut the pork belly into 2-3cm thick strips
  2. Add the oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and five spice powder, to an oven proof dish and mix.
  3. Coat the pork strips with the marinade. Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight (or for an hour at least)
  4. Preheat your oven to 160 degrees, put the covered dish in to cook for 90 minutes,
  5. Remove from the oven. Heat a frying, and add the pork to pan.
  6. Crisp for a few minutes on each side, and then sprinkle with sesame seeds