Recipe corner: Desi omelette wrap

We’re trying to expand out breakfast repertoire at the moment.  You may remember that we did a birthday breakfast countdown around this time last year and enjoyed it so much that we have instituted Sunday Morning Breakfast as a Thing.  A Thing to be eaten at the table, to be accompanied by a good strong pot of tea and to be a little bit more special than toast and jam (not, I hasten to add, that there is anything wrong with toast and jam).

This is another dish inspired by our visit to Babu Bombay Street Kitchen in Glasgow.  I am really becoming enamoured of spicy for breakfast!  It’s incredibly filling so although the points appear high, if you eat slightly later on a Sunday (as we do) it really will keep you going all day.  

To lower the points, ditch the butter (saves 1pp per portion), swap full fat mayo for light (saves 1pp per portion) or try looking out for "low fat" wraps (generally these are slightly smaller than the standard.  The recipe below reckons on using a 5pp wrap - the WW own brand, for example, are only 3pp.)

Ingredients

5 medium eggs

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2cm (or so) piece of root ginger, grated

Tsp oil

2 tsp butter

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp chilli flakes

Handful of roughly chopped fresh coriander

2 tortilla wraps

Tbsp mayonnaise

2 tbsp fat free Greek yoghurt

Handful of roughly chopped fresh mint

Tsp of mango chutney

Lettuce and cucumber to garnish

Serves 2, 14 pro points per portion

Get everything ready before you start – organisation is key here.

Preheat the oven to 100.  Place the tortilla wraps on a baking tray, ready to go in.  Chop your veg and measure out your dry spices.  Combine the mayonnaise, yoghurt, mint and mango chutney in a small bowl and season to taste.

In a small frying pan (check that the circumference is smaller than that of the wraps) heat the oil and then add the onion and fry for about five minutes until softening.  Add the ginger, garlic and dry spices and cook for a further couple of minutes until soft.  If things look as if they are catching, a small drop of water will help.

Remove half of the spicy vegetables from the pan to a nearby bowl and add half the butter.  Briskly whisk the eggs together, lightly season and pour half into the pan, swirling to evenly coat the bottom.  Cook until almost completely set.  Then, gently, slide on to the tortilla wraps so it sits in the centre of the pile, and place the baking tray in the oven.

Repeat the process to make the second omelette.  When it is almost completely set, remove from the heat (it will continue cooking in the residual heat while you prepare the first wrap).

Strew lettuce and cucumber the omelette and splodge over half of the mayo / yoghurt mix.  Tuck in the ends and roll tightly.  I would recommend wrapping in foil to serve, like a Christmas cracker, so that it holds its shape and makes less mess.

Slide the second omelette from the pan onto the second wrap and repeat.

Scoff.

Recipe corner: Bhurji pau (spicy scrambled eggs)

Eggs

When we were in Glasgow this summer, we went for breakfast at an absolutely gorgeous little place that serve Bombay Street food with a Scottish twist.  It was called Babu Street Kitchen and you can find the original post here.

Anyway, I was so completely enamoured of their Bhurji Pau, a spicy scrambled egg dish served on a buttered roll that when we got home, D came up with this close tasting replica.  It makes a truly fantastic brunch dish or a light supper when you want something full of flavour but easy on the stomach.

The closest thing we can find locally to the Morton’s rolls that Babu serves (Morton’s being a Glasgow bakery) are Shelton's Lancashire Oven Bottom Muffins which you can buy in Sainsbury’s (and possibly elsewhere although I've not seen them).  They have a lighter texture than an English muffin and are slightly flatter and less crusty than a typical bread roll.  They toast well, are robust enough to make an excellent vehicle for a bacon sandwich or even a burger, and are only 4pps each.  Highly recommended.  If you can’t find them, a normal English muffin would probably make a very acceptable alternative.

Reduce the amount of butter, or indeed, omit it altogether, to save 3pps per portion.

Ingredients

5 medium eggs
2 small (or 1 large) red onions, finely chopped
4 cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 red chilli, de-seeded and chopped
½ inch piece of ginger, finely grated
Small handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Tbsp. vegetable oil
Tsp. ground coriander
Tsp. medium curry powder
½ tsp. chilli flakes
Tsp. tomato puree
10g butter

To serve:

2 muffins (Oven Bottom or otherwise)
20g butter

Serves 2, 14 pro points per portion

Lightly whisk together the eggs with the dried spices and a decent amount of seasoning, then set aside.

Place a pan over a medium heat and add the oil.  When the oil has started to heat up add the onions (along with a pinch of salt to help the sweating) and cook for about five minutes until they have started to soften.  Then add the ginger and the chillies.  Cook for a couple more minutes, before stirring through the tomatoes.

Finally, add the lightly spiced eggs (popping the split muffins in the toaster just before you do so).  Take the heat right down and stir until the eggs start to lightly scramble – probably just a couple of minutes.  Remove from the hob slightly before they are done to the perfection as they will continue to cook in the residual heat.

Stir through the 10g butter, the tomato puree and the coriander.  Butter the muffins with the remainder and then top with the spicy eggs.  Remember Glasgow – and, possibly, wash down with a wee dram.

Edited to add:


Such a dish is too good not to share, so I am including it in the Belleau Kitchen Simply Eggcellent recipe link up.  This month's theme is anything goes (as long as it is eggy and said eggs are free range) so I'm looking forward to seeing what else pops up.

Recipe corner: Crab and rocket spaghetti

I can never be entirely sure whether or not I like crab.  Sometimes, I just find it a little bit cloying. D, however, is a huge fan, and is never happier than when he is dismembering large crustaceans.  Still, I was very taken with this recipe which is based pretty closely on Felicity Cloake's version.  I love how all the flavours marry together.  It is incredibly quick and simple to do and tastes very luxurious for the points.  Incidentally, we have tried it both with and without the finishing touches of butter and Parmesan and preferred the dish with - they add an additional savoury note not to mention a velvety texture.  They do bump the points up a bit though, so feel free to eschew them if you're feeling extra virtuous.

Ingredients

150g spaghetti
1 large courgette

Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped finely
Tsp dried chilli flakes
Tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
75g brown crabmeat
120g (one tin) white crabmeat, drained
Large handful of rocket leaves
Zest and juice of half a lemon
10g butter
15g Parmesan cheese

Serves 2, 14 pro points per portion

Using a spiraliser or a mandolin or a potato peeler, reduce the courgette to thin ribbons.  Place the ribbons in the bottom of a colander (you will drain the pasta on top of it and the boiling water will take the raw edge off the vegetable).

Put the spaghetti on to cook in well salted water.

Put the oil into a large pan (large enough to hold all the pasta when cooked) and add the garlic, chilli and fennel seeds to the cold oil.  Set over a gentle heat and cook until the garlic is soft but not starting to colour - allowing it to come up to temperature in the oil should help prevent it catching.  Stir through the lemon zest and juice and the brown crab meat.

Once the pasta is cooked, reserve a mug full of cooking water and then drain and add the pasta and courgette to the brown crabmeat, along with the white meat and the rocket.  Toss well, adding a splash of pasta water to emulsify.  Finally, toss through the butter and the Parmesan.

Recipe corner - Nigella's chickpea and chorizo (not quite a) stew

We made the mistake of wandering through Borough Market on Friday afternoon.  We had spend a very pleasant couple of hours at Vinopolis, a venue dedicated to the drinking of wine on the Southbank (if you have even vague tendency towards dipsomania it is an excellent way to while away an afternoon) and were wending our way towards London Bridge to meet friends.  How could we resist the smells wafting from those tempting stalls? 

Actually, in the main we were pretty good and avoided temptation (although there may have been a sausage roll consumed later at the pub) but I couldn’t resist purchasing a few venison chorizos that I happened to pass by. I love chorizo and I love venison and was intrigued by the combination of spice and rich, gamey iron.

I’ve had a Nigella recipe for a chickpea and chorizo dish bookmarked on the BBC site for a while now and this seemed the idea opportunity to give it a go. Of course, I’ve made changes. For a start, I’ve reduced the portion sizes. I’m a girl of good appetite but I don’t think the quantities she suggests are not particularly realistic (to my mind) unless one has spent the last week fasting. For a second, I roasted off some fresh cherry tomatoes instead of using a tin. I’m sure a tin would be absolutely fine mind you; it would make the whole dish a bit quicker to assemble and would mean that all the components can come straight out of the store cupboard.

D wasn’t overly keen on the addition of the apricots although I loved them. He suggested that they would have been more to his taste if they had been more finely chopped and I have incorporated this into the recipe. You could leave them out altogether and this would save you 1 pro point per portion.

Ingredients

Small punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
Balsamic vinegar
1 medium chorizo sausage (about 80g), chopped into chunks
30ml (2 tbsp) dry sherry
1 large tin of chickpeas, drained
50g dried apricots, chopped finely
Pinch of sugar
140g dried bulgur wheat
½ tsp cinnamon
Bay leaf
Fresh coriander, chopped (amount to taste)

Serves 2, 14 pro points per portion

Heat the oven to about 150. Place the tomatoes in an oven proof dish, sprinkle with a little balsamic and some salt and pepper and roast until they have just started to shrivel – at this low temperature you could probably leave them for about an hour. Remove from the oven and deglaze the dish with about 100-150ml water. Place tomatoes and water in a small processor along with a pinch of chilli and blitz into a rough, salsa like texture.

Put the bulgur wheat in a lidded pan with a good pinch of salt, the cinnamon and the bay leaf. Cover with water and bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer put the lid on and cook for about 15 minutes. You may need to add a splash more water during the cooking process.

Over a low heat, gently fry off the chorizo pieces until the deliciously spicy oil begins to render out and they start to crisp up. Add the sherry and allow it to bubble off.

Now you can add the drained chickpea, the apricot pieces and the tomatoes along with a pinch of sugar and seasoning. Bring up the heat and simmer for five minutes to reduce off some of the liquid.

Stir most of the coriander through the wheat, reserving a little for garnish, adjust the seasoning to taste and then serve up strewn with the chick pea mixture.

(Classic) Recipe corner – Macaroni cheese*

*Inspired by Victoria – thanks for reminding me of this fabulous comfort food!

OK, probably a teaching grandmother to suck eggs post. I mean, I bet everyone has their own macaroni cheese recipe. But for those of us who count points, it is sometimes useful to have had someone else sit down and stick it through the recipe builder.

I have said it before and will no doubt say it again: I am a massive cheese lover. It’s genetic I think. My Dad would literally live on bread and cheese if left to himself. And as a general rule, I don’t approve of the concept of low fat cheese. It is one of those foodstuffs that you should embrace in all its lardiness or not at all (like low fat chocolate bars. Wrong, wrong, wrong).

But, when I popped to Tesco during my lunch hour I was tempted to break my golden rule by the sight of a trial size Cathedral City Lighter pack – a brand I’d heard reasonable things about. And, do you know what, not half bad. I mean, it’s never going to find its way onto a cheeseboard – if I want to indulge in a piece of real Cheddar I go for the absolutely gorgeous Black Bomber and points be damned. For a midweek macaroni cheese supper though, it was very Quite Nice indeed. And yes, I know that 14 points is quite steep for a meal, but in my opinion, worth every one.

Macaroni cheese is a please yourself kind of dish. I personally like a nice thick layer of melted cheese on the top, so I rely mainly on the Parmesan to flavour my sauce, but there is no reason to keep to my proportions. There are plenty of potential zero point additions: onions, leeks, mushrooms (I would always soften these in a separate pan before adding or they’ll be a wee bit too crunchy; one of the beauties of macaroni cheese is all the unctious squishiness). You could whack a tin of tuna into the sauce before combining with the pasta to make a delicious tuna pasta bake. A lot of recipes suggest adding sliced tomatoes and breadcrumbs to the topping. And of course, you could vary your cheeses. But here, I’m going fairly classic.

Ingredients

30g butter
30g flour
300ml skimmed milk
20g Parmesan, grated
Tsp dijon mustard
Scrape or two of nutmeg
80g reduced fat cheddar, grated
120g pasta

To infuse the milk:

Onion, peeled and halved
Garlic clove, lightly crushed
Bay leaves
Peppercorns

Serves 2, 14 pro points per person

In my opinion, one of the secrets to a good bechamel is to infuse the milk beforehand – but if you can’t be bothered then you can always skip this stage. In any case, all you need to do is tip the milk into a saucepan with the onion, garlic, a couple of bay leaves and a few peppercorns. Bring the milk up to just before boiling point (it should be frothing enthusiastically at the edges) and then turn off the heat and cover. Infuse for as long as you like – an hour or so should be fine.

Now for the sauce. Strain the milk into a jug first of all, wipe out the infusing pan and use it to make the sauce – no need for too much washing up! Melt the butter over a low heat before tipping in the flour and stirring well to combine into a paste (or a roux if you’re feeling particularly French). Then, little by little, add the milk, stirring well at each stage to get rid of lumps. Take your time – you want to make sure you cook out the flour or else you’ll be able to taste it in the finished sauce. I would reckon on this stage taking around 10 to ensure a glossy, lump free sauce. Stir through the mustard and season with nutmeg, plenty of black pepper, the Parmesan cheese (reserve a little for sprinkling on top), around a third of the Cheddar and salt if required (but leave this till the end – the cheese itself should provide plenty of salty flavour so you may not need to add any more).

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water and drain well.

Toss the pasta through the sauce and arrange in a baking dish. Top with the remaining Cheddar and bake in a medium oven for 10-15 mins until it is gloopy and bubbling. Serve with the remaining Parmesan scattered over – and perhaps a salad on the side if you feel the urge.

Recipe corner - roasted squash risotto

D claims to have not been much into cooking before we met. He had three dishes in his repertoire with which to woo the ladies: bangers and mash with onion gravy, prawn curry (origin unknown) and mushroom risotto. Any more than these three dinners and you’d have to go back to the beginning and rotate through again. I sometimes wonder if this was some kind of girlfriend test: love me, be prepared to eat the same three meals for the rest of your life.


Six years after coming under my influence he is shaping up to be a pretty wonderful cook. And although his natural allegiance is to the school of “if in doubt add more butter / cream / oil / all of the above” he is very good about taking account of my points allowance and curtailing the saturated fat content.

The meal we had for tea was a case in point: it has some butter, oil and Parmesan cheese in it but not so much that it makes too large a dent in your daily allowance but enough that it is rich and luxurious and utterly gorgeous. This is his recipe which he has kindly allowed me to share as long as I give him all the credit – which I am happy to do as long as he promises to cook it for me again soon!

Ingredients

Half a large butternut squash, cut into wedges and deseeded
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Tbsp olive oil
8 sage leaves, shredded
2 tsps butter
Large onion, chopped
120g risotto rice
50ml white wine (optional - 1 pro point per person in total)
500ml chicken stock
40g extra low fat soft cheese
40g freshly grated Parmesan
20g pumpkin seeds (optional - 2 pro points per person in total)

Serves 2, 8.5 points per person, 14 pro points per person

Preheat the oven to 200C

In a large ovenproof tray toss the squash in the olive oil, garlic and half the sage leaves. Season well and then roast for 30-45 mins until soft and golden. Once the squash has cooled slightly, scrape the flesh away from the skin into a bowl and lightly mash – keep it reasonably chunky to provide some texture in the risotto.

Now heat the butter in a pan and soften the onion.

Add the rice and stir well to coat in the butter, then add the splash of wine (if using) and allow to bubble off.

Tip in the rest of the sage and season lightly – bear in mind that your stock may be quite salty so be careful. Now add the warm stock a ladleful at a time, giving a good stir at each addition, until the rice is soft but with a touch of bite in the middle of the grain – we found this took about 15 minutes. You may not need all of the stock.

Remove the risotto from the heat and stir through the mashed squash, two thirds of the grated Parmesan and the soft cheese. Cover and allow it to sit for a couple of minutes - this will make it even thicker and creamier so you may want to add a touch more stock before serving to thin it out a little.

Serve sprinkled with the remaining Parmesan and the pumpkin seeds.

Note: this was very rich and would probably feed three people with less enthusiastic appetites, especially if you had a nice, peppery side salad. I also have a feeling that some bacon lardons, chucked in at the beginning, would be lovely in this – but obviously this would up the points.