lunch

Creamy Red Pepper and Tomato Soup (with extra protein)

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Apparently most of us don’t eat enough protein and it can be hard to squeeze enough into your  diet (especially if you’re not a meat eater).

This soup is rich and filling and the protein comes from cottage cheese.  I know a lot of people don’t like it, due to its texture.  In this soup it’s blended until smooth and adds a nice creaminess to the soup

Ingredients

500 Grams Tomatoes (I used some cherry tomatoes and chopped a couple of large tomatoes that were getting past their best)

2 Red Peppers (cut into chunks)

2 Red onions (cut into quarters)

1 Bulb of Garlic

2 Tbsp Oil

300 Gram Tub of cottage cheese

500ml Vegetable stock

2 Tbsp Basil

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • Add 1 tablespoon of oil to an oven proof dish, add the vegetable to the dish.  Wrap the garlic bulb with aluminum foil.  Leave a little opening at the top and drizzle in a little oil .  Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges of the peppers start to blacken a little
  • Transfer the roasted vegetables to a large pot.  When the aluminum is cool enough to handle,  squeeze out the softened garlic, and add to the pot
  • Add the vegetable stock and begin to heat.  Add the cottage cheese and basil (be careful not to let the soup come to the boil).  Using a stick blender (or transfer to a regular blender) and whizz up until the soup is smooth and creamy.  Check and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it

Coconut and Lentil Enthusiasm Soup

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My sister calls this enthusiasm soup (you throw everything you have at it). Meaning its a great fridge raid soup to make when it’s the week before payday and you have to use what you can find at home.

So feel free to make this your own based on what you have in the fridge/cupboards.  I was feeling kind of  lazy and chopped all the vegetables on a food processer which made this even quicker to make.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Oil

1 Tsp Cardamon seeds

1 Tsp Nigella seeds (onion seeds)

1 Tsp Ground Ginger

1 Tsp Chilli powder

2 Cloves of garlic

1 Onion

4 Carrots

4 Stalks of celery

400 Mil Can of Coconut milk

1 Vegetable stock cube

50 Grams red lentils

Salt

Method

  • Heat the oil in a large pot, add the nigella and cardamon seeds and cook until they start to pop before adding the finely chopped vegetables to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes
  • Add the lentils, a stock cube, and the rest of the spices to the pot and stir well.  Add 750 mil of water to the pot and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes.
  • Pour the coconut milk into the pot and stir well, cook for another 10 minutes.  Check the seasoning and add salt if you think it needs it.

Serve with crusty bread

Creamy Lemon Spaghetti

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Everyone needs a couple of different quick and easy pasta recipes.

This is great for lunch, or if you want it for dinner you can add some prawns or cooked chicken to make it more substantial

Serves 2

200 Grams Dried Spaghetti or other pasta (you can increase/decrease depending on how hungry you are)

1 Lemon (zest and juice)

1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)

Salt and pepper

50 Mil Double/heavy cream

Knob of butter or tablespoon of olive oil

1 Tbsp Chopped herbs (I used basil, but parsley or tarragon also works well)

Grated parmasan to serve (optional)

Method

  • Fill a large pot with boiling salted water and cook your pasta according to the instructions on the packet
  • In a large pan, heat the butter/oil and gently fry the garlic making sure not to let it brown
  • Add the lemon juice and zest to the pan and cook over a gentle heat for 1 minute, add the cream and increase the heat until the cream starts to reduce
  • Take a ladle full of the water the pasta is cooking in and add it to the sauce (the starchiness in the water will help the sauce stick to the pasta), continue cooking until you are happy with the thickness of the sauce
  • Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce along with the chopped herbs and stir well.  Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if you think it needs it
  • Transfer to plates and sprinkle with grated cheese

Courgettes/Zuchinni stuffed with Feta and Sun Dried Tomatoes

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Courgettes can be pretty boring, and during Summer they are cheap snd plentiful.  I found myself with a couple of largish courgettes and these can often be watery and tasteless.

I decided to try pimping them up with some some dried tomatoes and feta, and they were yummy.  This makes a good lunch dish or you could serve them as a side dish and is fairly quick and easy.

Serves 2

2 Large courgettes

100 Grams Breadcrumbs

100 Grams Feta Cheese (crumbled into 1-2cm lumps

50 Grams Sun dried tomatoes in oil (roughly chopped)

1 Tsp Fresh oregano, or 1/2 tsp of dried (you can use any herbs you have, rosemary also works well, but use a bit less as it’s stronger)

1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Oil from the jar of sun dried tomatoes

A little extra oil for brushing the courgettes with

Combine the stuffing ingredients in a large bowl

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • Trim the top and bottom of the courgettes and cut in half length ways, use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds in the centre of the courgettes
  • Brush with oil and place cut side down in a baking dish, and bake for 10 minutes
  • In a large bowl combine the rest of the ingredients
  • Remove the courgettes from the oven and over to the cut side with a spatula
  • Fill the scooped out centre of the courgettes with the filling before returning to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes until the filling is golden brown

Asparagus and Leek Quiche

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I love when seasons change and new foods become available.

Asparagus is great at the minute, so I decided to make this yummy creamy quiche with it as the centre piece.

I used marscapone to add creaminess the the egg mix, because it’s what I had in the fridge.  You could also use creme fraiche or recotta if this is what have.

I used ready made pastry which made this even easier (it looks quite impressive for not a huge amount of effort if you’re cooking for people and can be serve hot or cold).

Ingredients

1 Sheet of ready made short crust pastry

6 Eggs

1 Leek (finely sliced)

1 Bunch of asparagus

1 Tbsp Oil

100 Grams Marscapone cheese

25 Grams of Parmasan (or other strongly flavoured cheese like mature cheddar)

Salt and pepper

Butter/oil for greasing a loose bottom flan/pie dish

Method

  • Grease the flan dish, and line with the ready made pastry, making sure the it’s pushed well into the edges. Pierce the base of the pastry with a fork and then chill the flan dish for 30 minutes
  • In a frying pan heat the oil over a medium heat and gently fry the Leek until it softens but do not allow to brown (set to one side and allow to cool)
  • To prepare the asparagus, snap off the ends and the blanch the asparagus on boiling water for 30-90 seconds depending on the thickness of the spears). Remove the boiling water and submerge in ice water (this will help keep their bright green colour)
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Cover the base of the pastry with greaseproof paper and poor baking beans or old dried rice or beans on top). Bake for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and carefully remove the greaseproof paper and baking beans
  • In a large bowl, add the marscapone, parmasan and eggs and whisk until smooth (add salt and pepper)
  • Cover the pastry base evenly with the cooked leeks, then arrange the asparagus spears wth tops pointing to the outside of the tin
  • Pour the egg mix on top of the vegetables and carefully place the tin back in the oven ad bake for another 20 minutes or until the centre of the quiche is just starting to set

Ribollita

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I want you to keep an open mind.  When I first heard of this stale bread soup I thought hell no!

However, I had it when I visited Italy and I’m now a total convert, it was one of the best dishes I tried.  Like most popular Italian dishes, this is peasant food, and came about when servants would be given scraps that they would reboil into a soup.  Ribollita is actually more like a stew and is extremely satisfying and the perfect comfort food.  Each family has their own version, but the basic ingredients are a sofritto (this is a base of finely chopped carrots, celery and onion, I whizz mine in a food precessor when I can’t be bothered standing chopping). For the bread part, I used some stale ciabatta I had, other types of bread like French baguette would also work (not sure how ideal sliced white supermarket bread would be).

Italian Grannies save the rind of parmasan to flavour this, but I just added some of the grated cheese. If you want to make this a vegan dish you can swap this out for pine nuts. The beauty of this is that it is the original zero waste recipe.  Basically you use what ever you have and it’s perfect for using up those left over bits in your fridge.  You can also season with the flavours you like.  The original version I tried had fennel seeds, for the version I made at home I used oregano because it’s what I had.  Rosemary or basil would also work well, so feel free to experiment.

Serves 3-4

400 Mil Can Chopped tomatoes or pasatta

400 Mil Can Cannalini beans (set aside half the tin and mash with a fork, this will help mske the ribollita creamy, as with the other ingredients feel free to use whatever type of brand you have)

1/2 Tsp Chilli flakes

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Tbsp Tomato puree

100 Grams Stale bread (broken into 3-4cm chunks)

2 Handfuls shredded cabbage (I used savoy cabbage because this is what I had, but kale or cavelo nero also work well in this dish

500 Mil Vegetable stock

2 Carrots (finely chopped)

2 Sticks of celery (finely chopped)

1 Onion (finely chopped)

2-3 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

25 Grams Grated Parmasan (plus extra for serving

1 Tbsp Chopped fresh oregano (or 1 Tsp dried herbs)

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar (or a splash of red wine if you have a bottle open)

Method

  • Heat the oil in a large pot, and gently fry the onion, celery and carrot over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes
  • Add the cabbage and tomato puree and fry for a further couple of minutes
  • Add rest of the ingredients and simmer for another 15-20 minutes before checking the seasoning
  • Ladle into large bowls and sprinkle with some grated parmasan (or whichever cheese you have)

Banh Mi (sort of)

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If you haven’t tried one before, these are  super fresh and tasty Vietnamese sandwiches.  They started of as simple street food, using the baguettes made popular by the French who invaded and colonised the country.

I make no claims that this is 100% authentic.  But I think I have done justice to the tangy crunchy lightly pickled vegetables, and the freshness of the herbs and some heat from the chillies hold true to the original thing.

You can use left over chicken or ham in these, but the first version I ever tried had little chicken meatballs that were packed with flavour.  You could also use pork mince to make these.

 My main tip is don’t scrimp on the herbs, they are what makes it. The pickled veggies can live in your fridge for 4-5 days are great served with other dishes.

Serves 4

For the pickled vegetables

100 ml Cider vinegar

100 ml Water

1/2 Tsp Sugar

1 Large carrot (cut into into matchsticks)

1/2 Onion (thinly sliced)

7-8 Radishes (thinly sliced)

For the meatballs

500 Grams Turkey or chicken mince

1 Egg (beaten)

1 Tsp Fish sauce

Handful of breadcrumbs

2 Cloves of garlic (grated or finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Grated ginger

1 Small chilli pepper or more if you like a lot of heat (finely chopped

4 x Demi (small) baguettes

4 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1/2 Cucumber (cut into batons or what ever shape you like)

Coriander and mint

Chilli peppers (finely chopped)

Lime wedges to sere (optional)

Method

  • In a large bowl, add all the ingredients for the meatballs and combine well.  Take around a tablespoon of the mix and roll it into a ball. Continue until you have used all the mix.  Set the meatballs onto a tray and chill for 30 minutes
  • For the pickled vegetables, add the chopped vegetables to a large jar.  Combine the water, vinegar and sugar and pour over the vegetables. Seal the jar and shake before letting stand for 30 minutes
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius), and bake the meatballs for 20 minutes, or you can fry them if you prefer.  I usually pop the baguettes in to the oven for a couple of minutes to let them crisp up
  • Cut the baguettes length ways and scoop some of the soft white bread from the centre (this will make it easier to load up your sandwich)
  • Spread a tablespoon of mayonnaise on each baguette (you can add more if you like), then add the pickled vegetables and meatballs before adding the sliced cucumber, mint, coriander and chilli.  Give each sandwich a quick squeeze of lime before getting stuck into sandwich perfection. 

Potato and Raclette Galette

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Last year I ate the world’s nicest pizza when I was in France, which was made with potato and the yummy French cheese Raclette.

I took a craving for it but couldn’t be arsed with waiting to prove pizza dough, so I decided to make a galette using puff pastry.

I made a big galette, and it’s yummy served with salad for lunch.  If you’re entertaining you can make smaller individual ones that make lovely appetisers. You can prepare all the elements the day before and assemble and bake just before people arrive so that you’re not super stressed, and people will rightly assume you are a total domestic god or goddess.

If you can’t find Raclette (it can be tricky enough), any other tangy hard cheese can be used.  The lovely folks at my local Indie Fude recommended a brilliant Irish alternative called St Gall, which was delicious. I used a left over baked potato that I cut into slices, but you could also use left over boiled potatoes and crumble them across the pastry.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

1 Sheet ready made puff pastry

250 Gram Onions finely sliced

1 Tbsp Oil

1 Large potato (use either cold boiled potatos or a cold baked potato

150 Grams Raclette or other tangy hard cheese (finely grated)

Few springs of thyme or whatever your favourite herb is.

1 Egg yolk or little milk for glazing the edges

Method

  • Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onions stirring occasionally for 30-40 minutes until they’re brown and caramelised (brown not black). Allow to cool
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  • Unroll your sheet of ready made pastry.  I put it on baking paper and put it a cooking sheet
  • With a knife, score a line (don’t cut through the pastry) about 1-2cm on the inside edge of the pastry this.  Then pierce the rest of the pastry with a fork (this will help it cook evenly). Brush the edges with the egg yolk
  • Sprinkle the caramelised onions on the pastry (keeping the edges clear), then lay out the slices of potato on top and sprinkle with herbs and grated cheese
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.  It can be eaten hot or cold

3 Minute Tortolini Soup

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It’s January and everyone is broke, so we’re all back to bringing lunch from home.

Generally, I find sandwiches pretty boring, and I always try to find different lunch ideas, and love this. It takes 5 minutes to assemble the ingredients at home and when you’re ready to eat just top up your container with freshly boiled water. Just make sure you use a jar or container that can handle boiling water. Mason jars are ideal, but I’ve also repurposed the plastic containers that you buy ready made soups or stews in.

I used spinach and peas but you can swap out the vegetables you use, for things like kale, this might need to be chopped finely as it has a tougher leaf than spinach. I used normal shop bought tortolini and just use the filling you enjoy. I have listed the ingredients for 1 portion, but you can scale up the amounts for this soup and make it in a pot.

Makes enough for 1

Ingredients

4-5 Pieces of tortolini

Small handful of spinach

2-3 Tbsp frozen peas

1-2 Scallions/spring onions (finely chopped)

1 Tsp Pesto (just use the stuff from a jar)

1/2 Stock cube or 1 teaspoon of bullion powder

Method

  • Add all ingredients to a mason jar or heatproof container (this can live in the fridge for 2-3 days
  • When you’re ready for lunch top up the container with freshly boiled water and cover 3 minutes
  • Stir well and transfer to a bowl (the jar or contain will be really hot, so be careful), or you can eat it straight from the jar if no one is around and you don’t want the washing up

Roast Red Pepper, Tomato and Lentil Soup

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Cold dark winter days call for warm comforting food.

This delicious bright red soup is super healthy and filling, packed with fibre and flavour.

When I’m using the oven, I always throw in a tray of vegetables to roast so that I get my money’s worth by cooking a couple of things at once. I roasted a red pepper, onion, cherry tomatoes and garlic which give a really intense flavour. I also used a potato which helps give a creamy texture.

Ingredients

1 Red pepper (deseeded and cut into large chunks)

1 Tub Cherry tomatoes

1 onion (peeled and cut into large chunks)

1-2 Cloves of garlic (skin left on)

100 Grams Split red lentils

1 litre Vegetable stock (I used a stock cube)

2 small potatoes (cut into large chunks)

1 Tbsp smoked paprika (add half a teaspoon first then check for taste as some paprika is stronger than others)

1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

Salt

Method

  • Add the onion, pepper, tomatoes and garlic to oven proof dish, drizzle with oil and roast at 180 degrees (Celsius) for around 30 minutes or until the edges of the pepper start to char. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly
  • Add the lentils, potatoes, and vegetable stock to a large pot and bring to the boil, before reducing to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes (or until the lentils and potatoes are soft)
  • You can use a blender/food processor or an immersion blender. Add the roast vegetables (remove the skin from the garlic), to lentils and stock.
  • Sprinkle in half the smoked paprika and blend the ingredients together until creamy and smooth. Check the seasoning, add more paprika if you like it spicy and salt if you think it needs it
  • I served this with some fried up tortillas that had gone a bit stale (try this it’s yummy), but fresh crusty bread is also delicious with it