MPM: 19th June 2017

So it got hot. I, in common with much of the rest of the UK, have spent the last few days of the heatwave complaining about it bitterly. When the rain returns halfway through the week, we shall complain bitterly about that too. Such is the British way.

I really like the meal plan this week and am looking forward to all the dishes on rotation - with the possible exception of the inevitable Fast Day soup on Tuesday and Thursday. If it cools down enough to restore my appetite, I shall look forward to them even more.

Monday: roast sea bream with fennel, potatoes, olives and capers. A lovely sounding one pot dish that won't require too much effort and has an appropriately Mediterranean feel.

Wednesday: pasta in a sweet tomato sauce with roasted red peppers and sausage

Friday: a friend of ours brought us back some black pudding from a recent holiday and D suggested using it as part of a proper fry up. A weekend fry up supper was a real treat when I was a child so this should be great. Bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast will all be in attendance.

Saturday: garlic prawn linguine. The original recipe looks pretty simple - just prawns, garlic, butter, lemon and parsley. I'm wondering about adding some spiralised courgettes and roasted cherry tomatoes for a bit of additional interest (and nutritional value!)

Sunday: Parmesan roasted chicken thighs with cauliflower and thyme - aka variations on a theme of Sunday roast.

Have a good week all!

Oh woe, oh woe, back to WW we go

So, thoroughly disenchanted with WW, especially after the change to Smart Points, I decided that I needed to find an alternative plan.  A few weeks ago, I mentioned that I was trying something but wanted to give it a fair shot before writing about it.

Cue hollow laugh.

The thing was, I was sick to the back teeth of counting.  I wanted to do something else and what I came up with was the 5:2 plan, which involves having two fast days a week and eating normally the rest of the time.  My reasoning was that, OK, the fast days would be thoroughly miserable and would involve some form of counting to ensure that I came in under 500 cals, but the rest of the time would be "normal" eating - exactly what I craved.

The fundamental problem was that it turns out I am RUBBISH at fast days.  I think I managed one properly - perhaps two - and hated them.  And I struggled with choosing the days.  It couldn't be the weekend.  It couldn't be on a Monday because that's tutorial day and I can't concentrate on seven hours of tax legislation on an empty stomach.  So that left Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  But Tuesday and Thursday are the good exercise class days - Tuesday is Body Combat followed by Aqua Aerobics, and Thursday is Clubbercise and I was nervous about exercising on 500 calories. I messed around and, basically, didn't achieve anything.

So I'm accepting the inevitable and dragging myself back to WW.  I am going to give Smart Points a good go - my gym buddy A has lost a stone and a half in the last few weeks so it clearly works.  I have bought a Fitbit and linked it to my account so that I can rack up Fit Points which I will probably swap for food, accepting that this will mean a slower loss.

As far as I can gather, Smart Points is pushing people towards a high protein, low fat, low sugar diet.  Which sounds rather joyless but, as ever, I will be trying to bend it to my tastes as much as possible and report back here as to the results.  I'm not necessarily going to publish Smart Points on the recipes that I post though, because I really like the freedom of just sharing stuff that I like without having to write a "Sorry, this is so high in points..." precursor.  As ever, if you want the Smart Points then please just drop me an email.

D also wants to drop some weight and has decided to do a month of Dukan - which is also geared towards high protein and low fat, so the two should mesh fairly well, although I am far too greedy to give up carbs altogether, which is pretty much what he is intending to do.  Again, I'll let you know how that goes.  Once he is in "Cruise" phase, which allows some vegetables, I can see the spiraliser getting a LOT of use which will be interesting.

Wish me luck my loves.  For the fifty one billionth time.

Pass the hemp...

I seem to be accidentally turning into a health food person.

Exhibit A: the spiraliser.  I love the spiraliser!  It gives me a profound sense of satisfaction to use.  Yesterday, I added spiralised courgettes to my pesto pasta and spiralised carrot to my salad.  I find myself eyeing up items in the fruit and veg aisle wondering what else I can make into pretty ribbons.

Exhibit B:  my lunch today includes nut loaf and lentil crisps.  The latter I only picked up because I liked the sound of the creamy dill flavour, but turns out that I quite like the texture of the crisps themselves - a bit poppadum esque.

Exhibit C: D and I are currently slightly obsessed with spelt bread which we have been purchasing in Waitrose, such that I am researching recipes so that I can make it at home.  It has a subtly, nutty flavour and it ROCKS.

A book deal featuring 100 ways with lentils and tofu much surely be in the offing...

Recipe corner: Turnip spaghetti with garden pesto and Parmesan cream

We got a new toy for Christmas. Now, don't worry, I'm not about to go all mung bean and green juice on you but I have to say I LURVE our new spiraliser. For one thing, it reminds me of a Play Doh factory. For another, it is a fun way to incorporate vegetables into dishes. And for yet another, it allowed us to recreate a dish that we ate at Restaurant Sat Bains last year and which I nominated as one of my plates of the year.

I'm really proud of our approximation. It tastes pretty close to the real thing but is as easy as anything to make and involves consuming a huge portion of veg. That is not to say that is particularly diet friendly - the pesto requires a fair amount of oil and there is a decent whack of Parmesan...however, as ever, I think it worth it.

A word on the pesto - the recipe is vague and that is because it is really all about using the herbs you have to hand in the proportions that taste good to you. It will probably be different every time you make it, and that's OK. We make ours in a little Kenwood mini chopper (which, incidentally, is another kitchen gadget that is well worth a purchase - we use ours practically daily) but at the restaurant, it was made in a pestle and mortar at the table for added theatre. Either method works well.

Ingredients

For the pesto:

A good big handful of green herbs - any you like. Tonight, for example, we used safe, thyme and rosemary with a little bit of basil and parsley. It's a question of what is available and what you like.
Olive oil - up to 100ml
15g finely grated Parmesan
Fat clove of garlic
Half a slice of bread

For the Parmesan cream:

1 onion, roughly chopped
15g butter
Bay leaf
100ml dry white wine
200ml chicken stock
30g Parmesan
2 tbsp fat free Greek yoghurt

For the spaghetti:

One swede (spiralised) (celeriac also works, and Sat Bains used kohlrabi if you can get hold of that)
Small knob of butter

In a mini chopper, or pestle and mortar, reduce the herbs to a thick paste, then add the garlic, Parmesan and bread to thicken. Drizzle oil until you achieve a relatively loose consistency. Set aside.

Melt 15g butter in a small pan, add the onion and a hefty pinch of salt, cover and turn the heat down as low as it will go. Sweat for 10-15 minutes, making sure it does not colour. While this is going on, make up your chicken stock and finely grate the Parmesan.

When the onion is meltingly soft, add the wine and the bay leaf and turn up the heat. Reduce until nearly all the liquid has gone and then add the chicken stock and crank up the heat a little more. Reduce by about a half and then pass through a sieve.

Return the liquid to a gentle heat and stir through the Parmesan until melted. Now remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before stirring through the yoghurt. You may still get a few white solids floating about in the liquid but fret not, just pass back through the sieve. Set aside.

Spiralise your swede and bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the veg and cook for around 4 minutes until tender but still with a certain amount of bite. Use the microwave to warm the Parmesan cream and to melt a small knob of butter.

Drain the swede and drizzle over the melted butter and season. Spoon the Parmesan cream into the bottom of the serving bowls, then the buttered spirals of Swede, and finally, a good dollop of the pesto (you will probably find that you have some left over which can be kept in the fridge for a few days). Eat, reflecting that not all health crazes are bad, especially when they are such excellent vehicles for butter, oil and cheese.