Archive for category: Recipes

Recipe of the Week – Mussels Puttanesca

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 small shallot
1 can (28 oz) unsalted diced tomatoes
½ cup green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
½ cup white wine or water
8 oz fresh tagliatelle
1 lb mussels, cleaned

Directions:
1. In a deep skillet with a lid, warm olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot and cook until softened, 2 minutes. Add tomatoes, olives, and fennel seeds and cook until bubbly, 5 minutes.
2. Pour in wine and add pasta, stirring to coat with the sauce. Then add mussels, and cover and cook until mussels open, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Source: Men’s Health, January 2017 issue

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Warm up with this delicious bowl of soup.

Ingredients

• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 red onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 courgette
• 1 small leek
• 1 large potato
• 1 x 400 g tin of cannellini beans
• 2 rashers of higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon
• olive oil
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 fresh bay leaf
• 2 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
• 1 litre organic vegetable stock
• 1 large seasonal greens, such as savoy cabbage, curly kale, chard
• 100 g wholemeal pasta
• ½ a bunch of fresh basil , optional
• Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. Trim and roughly chop the carrots, celery and courgette, then add the vegetables to a large bowl.
2. Cut the ends off the leek, quarter it lengthways, wash it under running water, then cut into 1cm slices. Add to the bowl.
3. Scrub and dice the potato. Drain the cannellini beans, then set aside.
4. Finely slice the bacon.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the bacon and fry gently for 2 minutes, or until golden.
6. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, celery, courgette, leek, oregano and bay and cook slowly for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened, stirring occasionally.
7. Add the potato, cannellini beans and plum tomatoes, then pour in the vegetable stock. Stir well, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon.
8. Cover with a lid and bring everything slowly to the boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the potato is cooked through. Meanwhile…
9. Remove and discard any tough stalks bits from the greens, then roughly chop.
10. Using a rolling pin, bash the pasta into pieces while it’s still in the packet or wrap in a clean tea towel.
11. To check the potato is cooked, pierce a chunk of it with a sharp knife – if it pierces easily, it’s done.
12. Add the greens and pasta to the pan, and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the pasta is al dente. This translates as ‘to the tooth’ and means that it should be soft enough to eat, but still have a bit of a bite and firmness to it.
13. Try some just before the time is up to make sure you cook it perfectly.
14. Add a splash more stock or water to loosen, if needed.
15. Pick over the basil leaves (if using) and stir through.
16. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper, then serve with a grating of Parmesan and a slice of wholemeal bread, if you like

Recipe Source: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/minestrone-soup/

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Enjoy this warm, delicious soup by the fire on a cold night.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
6 scallions, white and pale green parts only, thinly sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 quart homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock, plus more as needed
2 bay leaves
1 cup half & half or heavy cream
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until bacon is completely crisp. Remove from Dutch oven with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the fat in the dutch oven.

2. Add onions, half of scallions, and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

3. Add chicken stock, bay leaves, half & half (or cream), and cauliflower. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until cauliflower is completely tender, about 30 minutes,

4. Working in batches, blend soup until completely smooth (if you don’t have a very powerful blender, remove the bay leaf before blending. If an extra-smooth soup is desired, pass the soup through a fine mesh strainer after blending); if soup is too thick, whisk in additional hot chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with crisp bacon pieces and remaining scallions.

Recipe Source: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/10/creamy-cauliflower-bacon-soup-recipe.html

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