CERU, SOUTH KENSINGTON

Mid December can feel like the time of year when diets get ditched and anything goes, but personally I try to keep more of a balance - indulgences have to be balanced out with a bit more clean eating. So the launch of pop up turned restaurant Ceru has come at the perfect time. Ceru is a "contemporary Levantine restaurant serving dishes and drinks inspired by the flavours of the Eastern Mediterranean cuisine". And it's damn good, and right up my street. They use natural flavours wherever possible, and avoid adding sugar or other nasties to any of their drinks and food. My non alcoholic apple/lime/ginger concoction that was whipped up for me on arrival to their menu preview evening was spot on. 

The new site on Bute Street in South Kensington is open all day, with a breakfast menu (think almond milk porridge with barberries, molasses, pistachios etc, fried egg with merguez and halloumi or salad of avocado, chickpea and feta) and an all day menu which is what we sampled.

Snacks include Pancar - roasted beetroot, yoghurt, garlic and crushed pistachio served with crudites or freshly baked Greek pitta:

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SUGAR FREE RECIPES

You can’t open a newspaper or magazine without reading about the latest diet fad, which foods will give you a “bikini ready body” or what you must immediately cut out of your diet. Personally I believe that most things are fine as long as they’re in moderation, and whilst I try and eat very clean during the day – fruit for breakfast and vegetables and salad for lunch – I often eat out in the evenings so could easily end up consuming most of my daily calories in that one meal. I love nuts and avocado, both of which people avoid due to their high fat content (despite it being the “good” fat) but one thing I do try and avoid is sugar. There isn’t a “good” sugar. Excessive sugar consumption is linked to a whole host of horrible diseases and is hidden in many of the foods we eat, whilst also sprinkled liberally into hot drinks by many. I’ve never been one to add sugar to my coffee, and I don’t drink tea, but it still crops up in so many foods and drinks. And though I try to actively avoid sugar laden products, I do love a glass of bubbly which is full of the stuff. I’ve put together a little guide for you here about how you can cut down, or cut out sugar. I did it fully for a week, but even if you manage to reduce your intake you’ll be giving your mind, body and health a really good boost.

Drinks.

Drinks fall into three categories for me – soft drinks, hot drinks and alcoholic drinks. As far as soft drinks go, you need to stop drinking juice, cordials and fizzy drinks. They’re all packed with sugar, even breakfast fruit juices. Try drinking tap water instead, and if you need to add flavour, add a few ribbons of cucumber and some basil or mint leaves. If you drink lots of sugary drinks and replace them with water you’ll start to see almost immediate results as your skin will look clearer and brighter. For hot drinks, if you’re drinking tea or coffee and adding sugar then really try to stop. If you can’t go cold turkey then reduce the amount of sugar you’re adding to your drink little by little until you’re not adding any at all. Booze wise, your best bet is drinking clear spirits – vodka or gin – with soda water and cucumber and/or lots of fresh herbs. Red wine is also low in fructose, though avoid bubbly as that’s got the highest amount of sugars.

Food.

Sugar is hidden is so many food products, even ones in which you can’t taste it all, like soy sauce. So to cut out sugar, cut out processed foods. Starting from scratch with your ingredients means you can avoid hidden sugars. I bought some lovely asparagus from the local market recently which I used to make two sugar free dinners.

Green salad with avocado sauce

This is hardly a recipe but more of an inspiration, as you can mix it up with any veggies/herbs that you fancy.

Serves 2

4 asparagus
1 avocado
Juice of 1 lemon
Drizzle of olive oil
Tsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
Crumbled feta
Handful cherry tomatoes
Springs of dill and basil
6 large green olives
1 red chilli

Steam the asparagus for a couple of minutes, then chop the tops off and slice the other ends into 1cm chunks. Put the avocado in the blender with lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil, chilli flakes and salt and pepper and blend til smooth. Chop the rest of the ingredients, toss together with the asparagus tops and chunks and serve with the avocado sauce.

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ROAST JERK CHICKEN & GREEN RICE

It's that time of year when people are thinking more about what they're eating, and maybe following a stricter diet, but that doesn't need to mean we have to cut out all the tasty things. This recipe for roast jerk chicken with "green" rice is so easy to follow and makes enough for 5-6 people, so it's a great option to cook if you've got a few people over for dinner or for a weekend lunch. It's on the healthier side, as I've used wholegrain basmati and wild rice (which is higher in protein than regular rice and has 30 times the amount of antioxidants) but it's still seriously delicious.

Serves 5-6

1 large free range chicken
1 x 330ml can beer
2 tbsp. Groovy Food High Five Oil (a blend of organic virgin cold pressed blend of camelina, avocado, virgin olive, oleic sunflower and toasted sesame seed oils which provides essential omega acids 3, 6 and 9 and Vitamin E)
1 tsp sea salt
1 jar Encona Jamaican Jerk Marinade

300g wholegrain basmati and wild rice (or you could just use wild rice, or red camargue rice)
Handful of greens beans
Bunch of spring onions
Bunch of coriander
2 red chillies
Encona Peruvian Amarillo Chilli Sauce

Preheat the oven to 220C. Rub the chicken all over with the high five oil then sprinkle with salt. Empty (drink) half the can of beer then place the chicken open end down over the beer can and put the whole thing on a roasting tray. Roast the chicken in the oven for 50 minutes. After this time, take the chicken out and spread the jar of jerk marinade over the chicken. I used a pastry brush to do this but if you don't have one you can spread it on with a knife. Put the chicken back in the oven for 20-30 minutes depending on the size of the chicken.

Once you've added the marinade to the chicken and put it back in the oven, put your rice on to cook - rinse the rice then cover with double the amount of water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook according to packet instructions (30 mins for the type of rice I used). During this time, finely chop the green beans, spring onions, coriander and red chilli.

Once the chicken is done (insert a skewer and check that the juices that run out are clear and not pink) remove from the oven, carefully take the chicken off the beer can, cover the chicken with foil and leave on a plate to rest for 10-15 minutes. Put the sauces from the chicken, and the beer from the can, into a saucepan, scoop the layer of fat off the top, and heat the gravy til it's boiling and reduced by half.

Drain the rice and add all the chopped greens beans and half of the spring onions and coriander. Cover the pan with foil til you're ready to eat.

Carve the chicken up into chunks and top the pile of meat with the remaining spring onions and coriander, and the chopped chilli.

Serve with the green rice, gravy and some Amarillo chilli sauce on the side.

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GET UP & GLOW SMOOTHIE

Sometimes we all need a bit of boost. Whether it's a green juice to detox, some nice face cream to encourage happy skin or a smoothie made of your favourite fruit and veg to give that extra bit of energy you need. I love the idea of smoothies as they're a kind of all in one, providing a great dose of vitamins and minerals to start your day as well as filling you up - a good smoothie for breakfast can keep me going til lunchtime. You can make smoothies with whatever you want, fruit and veg wise, but I would avoid using sugary, flavoured yoghurt and fruit juices, as they are both high in sugar so you may slump after the initial sugar rush. This is my current favourite, but you can make it with whatever you have at home. I add half a scoop of matcha powder per serving as well - a ground up green tea that's known for its health benefits, as it contains a high amount of flavonoids which have an antioxidant effect. Matcha is also known to increase energy levels and alertness, so perfect for first thing in the morning!

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MACKEREL, RHUBARB, CUCUMBER

I'm lucky enough to eat out quite a lot. It's one of my favourite things to do and I love discovering new restaurants and discovering an area through where to eat there. This does mean that I watch what I eat when I'm not eating out though.... I have to! I try and avoid carbs altogether and eat fresh fruit and vegetables with some occasional protein. This is a go to recipe of mine during rhubarb season and one of the easiest recipes I've posted. There's no actual cooking involved, it takes about five minutes to make and is the perfect light, summer lunch. It's healthy, quite low in calories and full of good nutrients. You can bulk it out with a potato salad made with boiled new potatoes tossed in natural yoghurt but I like it just as it is.

Smoked mackerel, cucumber and pickled rhubarb

Serves 2
2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
1 tsp golden caster sugar
4 whole peppercorns
1 stick of rhubarb
1 cucumber
Half tsp table salt
2 fillets good quality smoked mackerel (get it from the fishmongers or deli if you can - it's still really good value)

Heat the vinegar, sugar and peppercorns in a small sauce pan or frying pan. Chop the ends off the rhubarb stalk and slice into thin matchsticks. Lay the rhubarb sticks on a plate and pour over the warm vinegar mixture. Leave to pickle while you prepare the rest of the dish.

Using a spiraliser or a julienne peeler create ribbons of cucumber. Lay the ribbons on a sheet of kitchen roll and sprinkle with a little table salt.

Give the cucumber a few minutes then shake them gently to get rid of the excess salt and moisture. Put the cucumber ribbons onto the plate, top with the rhubarb sticks and mackerel fillets. The sweet, oily fish is perfect with the pickled rhubarb and juicy cucumber.

 

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VITA COCO CAFE #LESSBREWINGMOREDOING

Lots of people think I'm strange - for as long as I can remember I've drunk my coffee cold. Double espresso either left on my desk for half an hour until it's chilled down, or even better, poured over a glass of ice after adding a little sugar and sometimes a splash of cream. I don't like hot drinks - I don't even drink tea, which again, is something people can't get their heads round! Another of my favourite drinks is coconut water. I love it.... Not only is it delicious, it's an excellent hangover cure (especially followed by a cold coffee!) as it contains natural versions of the healing and hydrating electrolytes calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium and more potassium than a banana - all of which are found in their unnatural form in many "hangover cure" drinks, such as Gatorade and Lucozade - it doesn't contain refined sugars or additives, and it has lots of vitamin C - all of which also contribute to its excellent health benefits. I love making smoothies with coconut water as the liquid base - my current favourite being a handful of spinach, a teaspoon of moringa powder, a few frozen berries, quarter of a cucumber and coconut water to top up. Coconut water really is an amazing drink.

Vita Coco make millions of litres of coconut water every year. The young coconuts are picked and cracked at source, in South America, then cleaned and the "water" taken out of them and flash pasteurised. From tree to carton is less than 3 days.

Vita Coco make various flavoured coconut waters, where natural fruit pulp (lemon, orange, pineapple or peach and mango) is added to the water and they also do coffee versions of my favourite coconut drink, where coconut water is mixed with espresso, a little reduced fat milk and evaporated cane juice for a little added sweetness. Served cold over ice, this is the most refreshing drink and one I can't get enough of. It's sweet enough but strong with coffee, and there's also a mocha flavour that's got a touch of cocoa added and tastes exactly like chocolate milkshake!

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SIMPLE SUMMER SALAD

This is a really quick and straightforward salad that I made for dinner a few nights ago. It was so well received on social media (and at home!) that I wanted to share the recipe for it here. Other than making some mayo, it's really just a case of boiling the veg - all of which can be done in the same pan. Mayonnaise might seem like it's going to be complicated to make, but honestly, once you've made it once and realised how easy it is, you'll make it over and over again. I've posted a recipe for mayo here before, but actually make it slightly differently when I'm using it as a dressing rather than a dip, so the recipe below is adjusted for this. 

Makes enough for 2 people as a main course, or 4 if served as a side

300g new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into chunks the same size as the smallest potato
125g asparagus
250g frozen peas
1 or 2 avocados
1 tbsp nonpareille capers
1 free-range egg yolk
1 heaped tsp English mustard
Squeeze of lemon juice
1 tsp cider vinegar
40ml rapeseed oil
40ml sunflower oil
Zest of 1 lemon
Pepper

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HOP VIETNAMESE

I've been eating out a lot more than normal recently, which I've been really loving (it's always nice to be cooked for!) Last Tuesday I was very kindly invited to go and check out a new pop up - HOP Vietnamese. The lovely Liv from Grub Club was due to go, but after not being able to rearrange a meeting that clashed she asked if I wanted to go along instead. Which I did!

This was HOP's second pop up, at House of Wolf, a cool cocktail bar set over several floors on Upper Street, near Highbury and Islington. We were greeted at the door and taken to the 1st floor, where a man resembling Ludo Lefebvre from The Taste was serving up delicious cocktails. Sadly, as it was a Tuesday evening and the middle of an already busy week for me, I had decided to not drink, so I stuck to the non-alcoholic versions, which were still really good - refreshing and tasty. I had a raspberry mint fizz, but could've had a chilli and lemongrass Collins or a coconut crush.

 

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WEEKEND JUICING

Recently, you can hardly move for articles about juicing and juices, and greens and health, and arguements about whether smoothies or juices are more beneficial etc etc. Either way, I know what I like and what I think tastes good, and this is my version of that. It's a juice not a smoothie, and it's one I only make once a week as I honestly don't have time to juice and then clean the kitchen (because I do always make a massive mess when juicing) before I go to work. So here it is - my weekend juice.

This is what I use, but you can grab anything fresh and green and stick it through the juicer! I do like using lemons or limes though, as it lifts what can actually be quite a heavy juice.

Makes 2 large glasses of juice

Large bunch kale
2 red beetroot
1 golden beetroot
1 cucumber
1 bunch celery
2 peeled lemons
3 apples
1 pear
Large bunch spinach
Large bunch cavolo nero

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MOTHERSHUCKIN LUNCHTIME

Last Saturday lunchtime I treated myself and the boy to lunch at a pop up -it was so nice to go to someone else's pop up for a change! I booked 2 places at the early sitting (2pm) of a pop up I've been meaning to go to for a while now but kept missing, so was glad they had space to fit us in. "Mothershuckin lunchtime" is all about seafood. The lovely girls who run the pop up source the freshest, best seafood they can get and serve it up to 15 people at a time in the Muse gallery on Portobello road.

We set off from home to Portobello, with the sun on our backs, on the nicest Saturday morning for a while. Portobello was buzzing, and it felt quite exclusive being able to slip into the Muse gallery while people peered in from outside, wondering what they were missing out on!

As with all good meals, we started with a good drink. I had the Bloody Mary, which was made with the Mothershuckers' own horseradish and a chilli infused vodka, while the chilli-shy boy stuck with a Meantime London lager.

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SALT BAKED BEETROOT with CANDY WALNUTS and PEPPERED GOATS CHEESE

This salad is perfect Autumn food. Yes, it's a cold salad, and it therefore doesn't seem like it will be the most comforting thing you can eat, but the flavours are heavenly! Although it's a salad, this one takes a little bit of time to prepare, so is ideal if you want to do something in advance for a dinner party, for example.

Serves 4

For the beetroot:

4 medium beetroot

8 sprigs of fresh thyme

1kg table salt

2 egg whites

For the walnuts:

20 walnut halves

100g caster sugar

100g water

1 bottle vegetable oil

For the goat's cheese:

200g soft goat's cheese, Welsh is ideal but you can use Chevre Blanc

1 tsp creme fraiche

1 tsp cream cheese

Tsp of fresh thyme leaves

Ground pink peppercorns

For the salad:

Mixed salad leaves, including some purple leaves

1 teaspoon English mustard

1 lemon

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Start with your beetroot. Preheat the oven to 180C. Mix the table salt with the egg whites in a large bowl, and cover a baking tray with tin foil. Lightly scrub each beetroot clean and pat dry with kitchen roll. Take 2 sprigs of thyme and hold against the edge of the beetroot. Grab a handful of the salt/egg white mix and press it around the beetroot until the whole beetroot's encased in salt and egg white. Place each one onto the baking tray once done.

Repeat with all the beetroot and then cook at 180C for 1 hour. Once ready, leave to cool slightly, then crack each beetroot open, pulling the beetroot from its salt case.

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WEEKEND WONDERS - SALMON and LENTIL SALAD / POPPY BREAD / HONEY WALNUT CHEESE

We're about to have our house refurbished (floors, carpets, bathrooms, kitchen - yey! etc), and have to move out to do so, so spent the whole weekend packing, boxing things up, trying to work out what should go to recycling, and getting the house as empty as possible (again, I'm less than helpful with a broken hand, but I did try!)

Lifting might not be my forte for another few weeks, but I am now able to whip up a few basics in the kitchen as the strength of my thumb/finger grip is getting better. I therefore decided to do my part to help with the weekend move by keeping everyone well fed. The move also forced me to empty the freezer, which is what inspired the first dish I cooked, as I found half a side of salmon in the freezer which I'd got when it was on special offer at Ocado.

It still feels like summer to me, so I made a huge, healthy salad to keep everyone going on Saturday.

LENTIL AND BAKED VERDE SALMON SALAD

Makes enough for 6-8 people

Salmon:

1 half side of Scottish salmon

2 lemons

Handful basil leaves

Tablespoon of capers

Couple of anchovy fillets

Olive oil

Salad:

300g puy lentils

1 cube vegetable stock

1 tsp garlic granules

Basil stalks

3 carrots

2 spring onions

Handful of tomatoes

1 cucumber

Basil

Salt and pepper

Dressing:

1 part lemon juice

2 parts olive oil

Large pinch sea salt

1 crushed clove of garlic

I actually made this in 2 parts - I cooked the salmon on Friday evening and cut off a fillet each for me and the boy, which we had warm with green beans, new potatoes and homemade hollandaise sauce. Then on Saturday I made this salad.

To cook the salmon, preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan).

Slice 2 lemons thinly to create discs. Put the lemon discs onto some tin foil on a baking tray. Sprinkle the capers over the lemons, and add the basil and anchovy fillets. Drizzle with oil and a good grind of pepper. Place the side of salmon skin side up on top of the sliced lemons. Rub the salmon fillet on both sides with olive oil and another good grind of pepper. Put the salmon in the oven and cook for 10-12 minutes (I did ours for just over 10 minutes and it was perfect). Gently peel off the skin when you take the fish out of the oven.

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FENG SUSHI DELIVERY

As you may know, if you read my Tresco holidays post, I've broken 2 bones in my hand. This makes cooking particularly difficult at the moment, as I can't even hold or grip anything in that hand, so I'm really struggling in the kitchen! On top of this, I've barely been home recently as after our holiday, we went straight to Boomtown festival for a week, and then on to my little brother's incredible wedding. So when we got back home to London late yesterday evening, the last thing I felt like doing was fighting vegetables with a knife and no usable left hand! So we chose delivery instead. I've ordered a few deliveries recently, due to the one-handedness, but this was the best by far. I found Feng Sushi via hungryhouse, a website that locates your local food delivery companies. I'm always a little hesitant about ordering sushi for delivery as you can't guarantee the freshness that is essential for good sushi, but I read lots of good reviews and found out that they only use line caught tuna and sustainably sourced fish, and I really wanted fresh, raw, healthy food, so decided to go for it anyway.

We ordered at about 7pm, and our food was with us by 7.50, which is no mean feat, considering that Feng Sushi is about 4 miles from our house!

As usual I went completely over the top with the amount of food I ordered for 2 of us, but it was all so yummy we managed to eat most of it anyway!

I ordered a miso soup, which was just as miso should be; the "heavenly salmon spring roll" starter, that was a cooked salmon spring roll, which was nice but a little greasy and therefore not really what I wanted; an x ray salad, made up of peppers, edamame beans, pomegranate seeds, avocado and poppy seed, that was a big bowl of healthy freshness; the deluxe mixed sashimi selection of hand dived scallops salmon, tuna, yellow tail with kimchee, mackerel and MSC ikura (roe);

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SALMON with STUFFED PEPPERS / SALAD DRESSING

I wasn't intending on posting this recipe up here, as it's more of a compilation of foods than an intricate recipe, but it tasted and looked so good that I felt I had to share! It's the perfect summer supper that's quick and easy to make. You can eat the red peppers with other fish than salmon, they're also great with sticky chicken, and they're brilliant to take to a picnic. 

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SUMMER PRAWN and PEA SOUP

This isn't actually a soup. Well it is, but normally soup has more liquid than other ingredients, so I suppose this more of a broth. Either way, it's the perfect lightweight, healthy meal that's quick and easy to cook. The original recipe came from Lyndsey Bareham's column in The Times, but I've made a few tweaks to give it my own twist.

Serves 2.

250g Jersey Royal new potatoes
1/4 vegetable stock cube
1-2 cups of water
1 lemon, zest and juice
200g raw king prawns, peeled
200g peas

100g green beans, chopped into 2cm pieces
1 tbsp creme fraiche

Rinse the new potatoes and chop into bite size pieces (about 2cm square). Put the potatoes in a wide saucepan (I actually use the wok to cook this in) and pour over enough water to just cover them. Sprinkle with a tiny corner of vegetable stock cube. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 8 minutes or so, or until the potatoes feel slightly soft when poked with a knife.

Add the zest and juice of the lemon and the prawns, stir, and cook for another 2 minutes. Now add the peas and beans and cook for 1 minute.

Remove from the pan, and stir the creme fraiche into the juice.

Serve in bowls with plenty of the liquid, a grind of black pepper, and a big wedge of lemon.

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TIBITS - VEGETARIAN in the WEST END

Tibits is a purely vegetarian restaurant, nestled just off Regent Street, in the Heddon Street food court, and is a cross between a sit down restaurant and a fast food take away place.

I was invited to try the food at Tibits and chose to go on a weekday evening. Despite it being a school night, it was really busy, and although it's right in the middle of tourist-ville, it felt like there were quite a lot of regular customers there too.

We started the evening with a fresh fruit juice cocktail - both going for the Apple and Cucumber mojito, that I thought was really good. It was really refreshing and I can imagine how good it would taste sitting in the sun outside the restaurant (the day we visited was sadly not one of the 3 sunny days we've had so far this year!)

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BEST BREAKFASTS...

'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day', we're often told. And although I rarely wake up hungry, once I've got ready for the day I am ready for my first meal of the day. Breakfast during the week involves a big bowl of tropical fruit and a black coffee. Not great, I know! But the weekends are when I can really indulge on breakfast, and make something special, and healthy. Though there's not really much cooking involved with these recipes. We normally end up having a late breakfast/brunch and one more main meal on weekend days, which allows us to pig out a little, whilst not overdoing it completely!!

My favorite weekend breakfasts vary, depending on how much or little sleep I've had the night before, but they generally include one of 3 or 4 ingredients - berries, fish, avocado and sweetcorn. Not necessarily all together! Here are some of my favorites.

TUNA, EGG, AVOCADO

This is best if you've had a night out and a long lie-in, as I don't think even I could eat a tuna steak before 11am - so think of this one as more of a brunch! It's a big smack of protein to get you right and ready for the day.

For 2.

2 responsibly sourced tuna steaks
2 free-range eggs
1 avocado
Pinch dried chilli flakes
Sea salt
Lemon juice
2 slices of rye bread
Olive oil

Put a small pan of water on to boil. Once boiling add the eggs, and cook for 5 minutes.

Heat a small amount of oil on a medium to high heat in a frying pan. Once hot, add your tuna steaks and cook for 90 seconds on each side. Remove from the pan, and put to one side.

Mash the avocado, chilli flakes and sea salt together with a squeeze of lemon juice. Smear onto the toasted slices of rye bread, and serve alongside your halved egg, and seared tuna steak. Drizzle with a little olive oil to finish.


BACON with AVOCADO and SWEETCORN SALSA

For 2.

6 rashers free-range bacon
1 small tin of sweetcorn, no added sugar and salt
1 avocado
1/2 red onion
1 red chilli
Lime juice

Heat a large frying pan. Add the bacon and put another pan on top, to flatten it out and make it really crispy. Fry over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Lift the top pan off, turn the bacon over, replace the pan and continue to fry for a couple more minutes, until crispy and cooked.

In the meantime, make the salsa. Chop the avocado and red onion into cm chunks. Finely slice the red chilli. Mix together with the sweetcorn, avocado, onion and lime juice.

Serve the bacon piled high with salsa.

FROZEN BERRY YOGHURT BOWLS

This takes about a minute to prepare, but once ready, tastes like heaven and you can actually feel the good it's doing you.

For 1.

200ml natural probiotic yoghurt
100g frozen berries
Teaspoon of manuka honey
Handful chopped basil and mint

Pour your yoghurt into a bowl, top with berries, honey and chopped herbs. The frozen crunch of the berries is particularly delicious on a lovely sunny morning. Tuck in, and feel better about the day!

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SUPER FAST PRAWN CURRY

Sometimes (in fact quite a lot of the time) when I get home from work, I really want to cook something for supper that’s easy to make, full of flavour, and has some of my 5 a day in. There are lots of things I could cook that require an hour’s love, or 2 hours slow cooking, but often I just want to get home, put something on that will be ready within half an hour, or less, and eat before it gets too close to bedtime!

This is my go to recipe for exactly that. It’s super quick, very easy, packs a massive flavour punch, and goes down equally as well on sunny evenings as it does on cold winter ones.

Serves 2 or 3

Olive oil
1 onion
Half teaspoon of coriander seeds
Black pepper
1 clove garlic
1 stick of lemongrass
1 teaspoon medium curry powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
Pinch of saffron
1 tin coconut milk
Juice and zest of 1 lime
400g raw prawns
1 pack bean sprouts
Handful coriander leaves
1 red chilli
Lime, to serve

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a deep frying pan, over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion and fry for 3-4 minutes until it is turning translucent. Reduce the heat slightly; add the coriander seed, black pepper, crushed garlic clove, and finely sliced lemongrass, and fry for a further 2 minutes. Now stir in the curry powder, turmeric and saffron strands, and pour in the coconut milk (try to avoid the half fat stuff – I don’t know what they do to it to reduce its fat content, but whatever it is, it means it doesn’t cook as well, and tastes pretty strange).

Once the coconut milk is gently simmering, mix in the zest and juice of a lime, and the raw prawns. Stir everything together and simmer for 2 or 3 more minutes, or until the prawns have turned pink. Remove from the heat, chuck in the bean sprouts, and serve in bowls with rice noodles or rice, a few thin slices of chilli, a sprinkling of coriander leaves, and a wedge of lime.

And there you have it – supper ready in less time than it takes to get home from work.

What’s your go to meal when you want a super speedy supper?

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EASY BREAD - NO YEAST NEEDED

I first came across this recipe a few months ago via Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage, and have since made many variations of it, ending up with the perfect, fail-safe loaf of bread.

I can't stress how easy this is to make - no kneading, no yeast. Just mix and put it in the oven. The most difficult part of the recipe is remembering to turn the oven on BEFORE you start making the bread, as it takes such a short time to make, your oven might not get hot enough, quick enough!!

Makes 1 loaf

Preheat the oven to 170C (160C fan)

220g self-raising wholemeal flour (my favorite is Allinson flour, made in the UK)
180g self-raising white flour
2 teaspoons table salt
1 level tablespoon caster sugar
50g sunflower seeds
100g walnuts
75g dried cranberries
50g sultanas
50g dried apricots
400ml San Miguel

Mix the flours, salt and sugar in a bowl. Break up the walnuts, either with a rolling pin or a quick blitz in the magimix. Chop or magimix the dried apricots. Add the nuts, seeds and dried fruit to the flour mix and pour in the beer. Mix it all together.

Butter a bread tin, then dust with self-raising flour. Pour the bread mixture in.

Cook for 70-80 minutes, or until golden brown.

Leave to cool then serve with butter and salt, or a lovely creamy goats cheese.

I wrap my bread in greaseproof paper to store it, and although it normally gets eaten within 48 hours, it will keep for up to 4 days, although the crusts will get crunchier.

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FOOD FOR/AFTER A TUMMY BUG - BROTH AND COCO WATER

There's a horrible tummy bug going round, as there normally is at this time of year, and my boyfriend was struck down with said bug at about 1am on Monday. A visit to the doctors on Monday morning was pretty unhelpful - the doctor said "It's ok, the human body can survive without food for a month" - seeing as I think it's up to a month, and then you die, not very helpful info, doc! 

Dioralyte was the only thing he could recommend, but the ingredients list of Sodium Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Glucose and Disodium Hydrogen Citrate didn't sound too appealing. So after an afternoon's sleep, I knew he would need something to replace all the salts and sugars he'd lost over the last 18 hours.

In order to get the potassium (brilliant for getting the body over dehydration) and sugars back into him that he needed to rehydrate, I picked up a (pint) can of coconut water. This went down a treat, drunk in small sips.

Next thing needed was the salts he'd lost. I read a bit on the internet about cures for tummy problems, and fennel tea, and ginger were often mentioned. Chicken soup has always been used to encourage a speedier recovery from these kind of things, so I decided to make a clear broth, incorporating all the stomach healing ingredients I'd read about. Here's what I made:

CHICKEN BROTH WITH FENNEL, LEMON AND GINGER

Serves 3

1 litre of chicken stock (I had some of my own stock frozen so used this)
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
Juice & peel of 1 lemon (try to peel this off in wide strips, like how you'd peel an apple)
1 tsp soy sauce
1 nest of egg noodle per person
1 spring onion

Put the chicken stock, fennel seeds, grated ginger, a small bit of grated garlic (I used a third of a clove) and lemon peel into a saucepan and bring up to a slow simmer. Add the soy sauce. Taste and adjust quantities of any of the ingredients, but you want a nice broth, not a strong overpowering flavour of anything.

Whilst the broth is simmering, boil a kettle and pour the boiling water over the noodle nests and cook as per packet instructions (mine were to boil the noodles for 3 minutes).

Remove the cooked noodles and drain the water. Place a small amount of noodles in each bowl. Once the broth has simmered for around 10 minutes, squeeze in a small amount of the lemon juice, remove from the heat, and sieve onto the bowls of noodles. Add a small amount of finely chopped spring onion and serve.

You can omit the noodles, depending on how well the patient feels! Mine needed a bit of energy so I served it with noodles, and it went down very well. He's now very much on the road to recovery!

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