week night suppers

Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry

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Quick, tasty and easy weeknight night dinners are the best and this is ready in 15 minutes.  It’s also pretty healthy and is packed with vegetables (especially if you’re trying to “eat the rainbow” which is essential for good nutrition).

Pork sometimes gets a bad reputation, but lean pork mince is full of protein and has a good amount of iron.

Serves 4

500 Grams Lean pork mince

1 Red pepper (finely sliced)

1 yellow pepper (finely sliced)

1 Red onion (finely sliced)

Half a small white cabbage (finely sliced)

Handful of sugar snap peas or mange tout

2-3 Cloves of garlic (finely sliced)

4-5 Tbsp Hoi Sin Sauce

Method

  • Heat a large wok or high sided frying pan over a high heat
  • Add the pork mince to the pan (there should be enough fat in the meant to stop it sticking even though it’s lean, but you can add a tablespoon of oil if you think you need to). Stir the meat quick to break it up until it’s mainly brown
  • Add all the veggies to the pan and stir often for 2-3 minutes
  • Stir in the garlic, and Hoi Sin sauce and half a cup of boiling water.  Stir well and let the sauce thicken for another minute until everything is well coated
  • Serve with rice or noodles

Sausage and Courgette/Zucchini Pasta

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Quick, cheap and easy weeknight dinners are the best.

I had forgotten to go food shopping and whisked this up with some sausages that needed to be eaten before their use by date and a big courgette that was hanging about the fridge.

Serves 2

100 Grams Dried pasta (or more or less depending on how hungry you are)

4 Pork sausages (skins removed)

1 Tbsp Olive oil

1 Large courgette (grated and as much water as possible squeezed out of the grated courgettes)

2 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1/2 Tbsp Rosemary (finely chopped)

Salt and pepper

Grated parmasan to serve

Method

  • Cook the pasta as directed on the  packet until al dente
  • Heat the oil in a large pan before adding the sausages.  Break the sausages up with a spatula into small pieces and cook until it starts to brown
  • Add the grated courgette to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The courgette will start to breakdown becoming creamy, and when this starts to happen add the rosemary, garlic and a ladle full of the starchy water the pasta is cooking in to the frying pan and cook for another 1-2 minutes, the courgettes will have soften into sauce like consistency
  • Drain the cooked pasta, and to the pan, stir into the courgettes and sausages
  • Check the seasoning and add salt and black pepper if you think it needs it.
  • Sprinkle wth parmasan before serving

Feta and Vegetable Slice

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Vegetarian main courses can be a bit Meh.  This yummy mix of vegetables, lentils and creamy feta cheese wrapped up in delicious flaky pastry makes great quick weeknight dinner and packed with protein.

You can change up the vegetables you use depending on what you have (it’s a good way to use up left over veggies).  You can also used canned lentils, and I always use shop bought flaky pastry (because who really ever makes it from scratch).  You can also make the filling the day before, so all you have to do is assemble and bake if you’re short on time.

I made one large pastry parcel that can sliced up, but you could also make 4 individual ones if you prefer.

Ingredients

1 Sheet of shop bought puff pastry (pre-rolled)

1 Tbsp Olive oil

2 Leeks (sliced)

2 Peppers (sliced)

150 Grams Cooked green lentils

150 Grams Mushrooms (sliced)

200 Grams Feta cheese

1 Tsp Dried Thyme

2-3 Cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

Salt and pepper

1 Beaten Egg (for brushing)

Method

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the vegetables over a medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme and continue to cook until the vegetables are soft
  2. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely, stir in the cooked lentils and feta cheese
  3. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  4. Place your pastry on a sheet of baking parchment. Leaving a border of 2cm, place the vegetable mix on on half of the pastry sheet. I use a slotted spoon to drain off any excess liquid from the vegetable mix
  5. Lightly brush the edges of pastry with beaten egg and fold the pastry over to cover the filling. Press the edges of the pastry together with a fork (or you can crimp it if you’re feeling fancy)
  6. Brush the pastry with some beaten egg, if you want to make things look pretty you can lightly run a knife across the pastry in a criss Cross pattern (be careful not to go too deep and pierce the pastry)
  7. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown