Recipe corner: warm potato salad with olive oil, lemon and mustard

My go-to potato salad recipe tends to be this one that I posted years ago - simple, creamy, delicious. However, sometimes mayonnaise is not the way to go.  I admit that these occasions are few and far between - a swipe of mayonnaise improves many, many things.  But sometimes, sometimes you might want something a little more restrained.  And in that case, this is an excellent recipe.

We had it with salmon and with lightly pickled cucumber ribbons and it was the kind of meal that leaves you wanting to lick the plate.  Sophisticated, simple, summery food.

Ingredients

250g new potatoes, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
Squeeze of lemon juice
Tsp dijon mustard
Tsp wholegrain mustard
2 spring onions, finely chopped

Serves 2, 6 pro points per portion

Place the potatoes in a pan full of lightly salted water.  Bring to the boil and then cook for around 10-12 minutes until tender.

Meanwhile, make the dressing.  Whisk together the lemon juice and the mustard, then gradually add the olive oil until incorporated into a smooth dressing.  Stir through the spring onions and season to taste.

When the potatoes are cooked, drain and while they are still warm (this is important) gently mix with the dressing.  Allow them to sit for at least 15 minutes to absorb and serve at room temperature.

Recipe corner: coronation rice salad

So, we bought a barbecue.  A beautiful, kettle style, Weber jobby.  We bought a barbecue, and the weather promptly took a dramatic turn for the worse.  I'm not saying that we were directly responsible for the pervading dampness of the Bank Holiday weekend but...

We bought a barbecue and decided that the first thing that we were going to cook on it was a simple, spatchcocked chicken adorned with nothing more than a slick of oil and a flurry of salt and pepper.  And, to accompany it, I decided to try and recreate the Waitrose coronation rice salad of which we are both so fond.

Now not to diss our beloved Waitrose, but I think that my version is WAY better - more kick, more texture and less drowned in dressing.  Every barbecue, even the slightly soggy ones, needs a couple of decent sides and this is better than decent.  Along with some watercress salad and crusty bread, it was all that our beautiful chicken needed to ensure that our inaugural barbecue was a tasty one.

Ingredients

100g basmati / wild rice mix
Large onion, finely chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil
Tbsp curry powder
Tsp chilli flakes
Tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric
50g raisins

For the dressing:
Tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp half fat creme fraiche
Tbsp mango chutney
Tsp vegetable oil
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
Handful of fresh chopped chives and / or mint

Serves 4 (as a side), 6 pro points per portion

Cook the rice according to packet instructions until al dente.  You want to ensure that it retains some bite which will lend the salad texture.

Gently heat 2 tsp of oil and then add the onion and cook off over a low heat so that it softens without colouring.  After about five minutes, add the spices and the raisins and continue to cook until the onions are meltingly soft and the spice mix has lost its harsh rawness - another five minutes or so.

While onion and rice are cooking, combine the dressing ingredients in a large bowl and season enthusiastically.

Now add the cooked rice to the onion pan and combine well. Cook for a further couple of minutes, stirring regularly to ensure that the mix is well amalgamated then remove from the hat and allow to cool slightly before combining with the creamy dressing.  Check the seasoning, adding more lemon or salt as necessary.

To have this at its best, allow to sit for at least an hour before serving.  It is relatively forgiving and can be made in advance, but don't serve cold from the fridge - always let it come up to room temperature first.  Your barbecue will thank you for it.

Recipe corner - whisky and stem ginger brownies

I can’t really take credit for these brownies. Which is a shame because they are seriously, seriously good.

They came about because of an unsatisfactory Starbucks brownie. D’s, not mine I hasten to add, I’m not that bad at weight watching! Anyway, the brownie was disappointingly dry so I rashly declared that I would bake some myself that we could take up to Scotland with us and that they would be as satisfyingly damp and fudgy as brownies should be. “If they’re going to Scotland,” said he, “They should have a Scottish theme.” And so the whisky and ginger brownie concept was born.

I’m not the biggest fan of alcohol and chocolate in combination – odd when you consider how much I adore the two things separately. But the whisky here is not in your face, it just adds a subtle spiciness that works incredibly well with the chocolate and the little zinging pieces of ginger. You could add a little ground ginger to the flour if you wanted to make the taste slightly more overt.

At 6 pro points a piece, these are obviously not the lowest point option treat in the world but they’re about the same as a chocolate bar – and well worth the expenditure in my opinion. Fortunately they keep excellently well – for at least two weeks in a tin, or even freeze, so one is denied any excuse to scoff the lot in one sitting.

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa
50g white chocolate chips (I used buttons here)
50g stem ginger, chopped
2tbsp whisky
3 eggs
275g golden caster sugar

Makes 20, 6 pro points per brownie

Prepare your (approximately) 20cm square tin (I spray mine lightly with oil and put baking parchment in the base) and preheat your oven (180 or 160 for a fan).

For this recipe you’re going to require three bowls. In your first bowl, place your dark chocolate, butter and whisky. You are going to melt these together – you could do this over a bowl of simmering water but I think by far the easiest way is to use the microwave. A couple of minutes at a medium setting should suffice – give it a brisk stir every thirty seconds or so to ensure that nothing untoward is happening. Once the mixture is melted and glossy, set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Now you can sieve your flour and cocoa powder together in a second bowl. Add any spices at this stage, and perhaps a decent pinch of salt.

The eggs and sugar will require whisking together until pale and doubled in volume – this took about a minute in my beloved Kitchen Aid.

Gently, gently take your cooled chocolate and fold it into the whisked eggs: a rubber spatula works well here. You need to be very careful and fold as opposed to stir so that you retain the air you have whipped in. Once the chocolate is incorporated, sieve (again) the cocoa and flour mixture into the mix and again, fold it gently in. Perseverance is required here as it will take a while to come together. Finally, stir through the chocolate chips and ginger pieces.

Pour into the tin and bake for 25 minutes. The difficulty with brownies is to know whether they are ready or not – a skewer inserted into the cake should have some crumbs clinging to it and the top should be shiny and crisp looking and starting to come away from the sides of the tin. I also found that as I removed it from the oven it had the slightest hint of a wobble to the middle of it which had disappeared less than a minute later. The resulting brownies were the perfect amount of squishy.

I’m linking this up to Mrs M’s April Recipe Link party to spread the word – boozy brownies for all!

Recipe Corner – Roasted Parmesan Parsnips

This post could well have been called: “Time to talk turkey (or in our case, three bird roast)”. You see, I’m rather excited – this year I am cooking Christmas dinner not just for myself and D, but for my parents, my brother and sister in law and my eleven month old nephew. Discerning palates all, especially the baby.


The menu has been more or less finalised and hopefully a lot can be done in advance which I think is the key to any sort of entertaining and means that I can spend most of the actual day drinking Bucks Fizz (Mum, if you’re reading this, I’m just kidding. I promise to remain upright at least until Doctor Who.)

As well as roast potatoes, the best ever braised red cabbage, crushed Swede, the ubiquitous sprouts (of which more in a later post) and, of course, peas, I will be serving some scrumptious crunchy coated parsnips. I’ve tested this recipe twice now (D has been forced to eat variations on a theme of Sunday dinner two days in a row – how he suffers for my art) and think I’ve cracked it timing wise. In terms of prep, both the potatoes and the parsnips will be parboiled well in advance, probably on Christmas Eve, and allowed to cool completely. Not only does this seem to give the best, crispiest roasted roots, but it also is one more annoying job out of the way.

I’ve given the rough amounts for 4 people here, but it is easily doubled or halved depending on the size of your family and, indeed, how much they like parsnips.

Ingredients

6 parsnips – look for short fat ones as they tend to be easier to cut
2 tbsp couscous*
20g fresh grated Parmesan
½ tsp ground cumin
Black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Serves 4, 6 pro points per serving

* The original recipe that this is based on called for polenta which I wasn’t able to find in its correct form in our local Tesco. I substituted couscous, a store cupboard staple in our house, as an experiment and it worked well. It is probably a coarser crumb than polenta but it still gave a lovely, crispy coating to the parsnips. By all means use polenta if you can get hold of it.

Cut the parsnips into rough quarters length ways. Your pieces all need to be of similar size, so if you have a particularly rotund specimen you may need to cut it into eighths. These look about right:

Photo credit: Waitrose.com

Put the parsnips into a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Once there, boil them briskly for a minute before draining. Use kitchen towel to blot off any excess water.

While your veg cook, put the couscous, Parmesan, cumin and several good scrunches of black pepper in a suitable receptacle – I used a shallow.

Now transfer your drained parsnips into the couscous mix and toss well to coat. You should do this while they are still warm. You can do this bit well in advance – the vegetables will roast well from cold.

When it comes to cooking them, preheat the oven to about 200-220 degrees. Heat a the vegetable oil in a roasting tray for about 15 minutes. Tip the parsnips into the hot oil and roast in the oven, turning once or twice for 25 minutes until golden and crispy. Serve alongside your bird with lashings of gravy.

Recipe corner - Roasted squash and thyme soup with Gruyere

Oh dear - long time, no post. The standard reason for a diet blog to go quiet is that said dieter has fallen spectacularly off the wagon and is lying in the gutter with crumbs down their front. While not quite plumbing the depths, there may well have been a pizza ordered at some point. Dominos have started adding a layer of pesto to one of their bases and I am very fond of pesto. It was research, people!

I went to a new meeting last night which is far more conveniently situated than previous ones but does involve walking past my favourite curry house which was smelling particularly delicious. My resolve was sorely tested – a special murghi massala with pilau rice would have gone down very well after the ritual humiliation that is the Weigh In. Luckily, I had my tea all planned out and so was able to resist – just.

This soup recipe is adapted from a Rick Stein effort on the BBC website (from where the photo also is taken - I must get into the habit of taking my own photos, although they never make the food look very appetising). I say adapted, but really, I’ve just substituted half fat crème fraiche for single cream and cut out a bit of oil. Most WWers are big fans of zero point soup and it may seem counter intuitive to start bunging butter, cream and cheese into it, but the result was a delicious, velvety, rich concoction which made an extremely filling tea. Our squash was freakishly big, which meant the soup was a touch thicker than what would be my personal preference, but you can always adjust the stock to solid ratio as per your own tastes.

Ingredients

Butternut squash
40g butter
Onion
1-2 tsp dried thyme
Litre of chicken stock*
4 tbsp half fat crème fraiche
120g Gruyere cheese

*One day I swear I will be sufficiently foodiefied to make my own stock. Until that day comes, I am very partial to the Knorr stock pots.

Serves 4, 6 pro points per person

Split the squash in half lengthways, and remove all the seeds and fibres from the cavity. Cut into large wedges, spray with a little oil and season the wedges well. Roast in a hot oven for about 40 mins, until tender.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large pan over a low heat. Tip in the onion, season and add the thyme and allow to soften but not colour.

When the squash is cooked, allow to cool slightly before removing the skin and adding to the pan. Cover with the stock and simmer for about ten minutes, adjusting the seasoning as necessary (I find squash needs a lot of salt to counteract the sweetness, but bear in mind that the stock itself will have a fair amount of salt in it).

Blitz to a puree and then return to the heat, stirring in the crème fraiche. Serve with the Gruyere coarsely grated on top.

NB: D is of the opinion it would be easier to peel the squash before putting it in the oven to roast. I’ve kept to Rick’s method here, but you may wish to consider it, especially if you are in a rush – the squash can take quite a while to get to handling temperature.

Recipe corner - Madhur Jaffrey "shrimp" curry

Have I happened to mention how much I adore curry?

I was quite aged before I discovered my passion for spicy food. The primary problem for me was that for many years I couldn’t bring myself to eat rice. I assume it was a textural issue because I can’t imagine there being anything about the taste of rice that I could dislike. To this day, one of the very few foods that I am unable to go near is rice pudding (I’m actually shuddering just thinking about it), but thankfully, I now have no such problems with the savoury stuff.

My tolerance to chillies has grown as well, to the point where I have even dared to cook a vindaloo at home (and very nice it was too). So, the world of Indian cuisine has become my own personal oyster.

We are (un)lucky enough to have a fantastic Indian takeaway a 30 second jog away. If you’re ever in York (and not dieting) can I recommend the Gate of India? Situated in the back room of a pub, it is not the most prepossessing of locations, but the food is absolutely delicious – and I always try to leave some on my plate to eat cold the next morning.

But curries are incredibly easy to make at home as long as you have a reasonably well stocked spice cupboard. This one, by Madhur Jaffrey on the BBC website, is incredibly quick and has the added bonus of not using a pre-bought curry paste, so you can justifiably feel smug and domestic goddessey about producing it. The addition of cherry tomatoes at the end is our own and probably completely unauthentic - so feel free to leave them out – although I like the little pops of sweetness throughout the curry. I have a feeling some spinach stirred through just at the end, wilted in the residual heat, would also be rather good.

Ingredients

1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp paprika
½ tsp ground turmeric
4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a pulp
2.5cm/1in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated to a pulp
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
397g/14oz can reduced fat coconut milk, well shaken (or stirred)
¾tsp salt or to taste
1 tbsp tamarind paste
450g/1lb peeled and deveined, meduim sized uncooked prawns (shrimps)
100g cherry tomatoes, halved

Serves 4, 6 pro points per portion

In a bowl, combine 300ml/10fl oz/1¼ cups water with the cayenne pepper, paprika, turmeric, garlic and ginger. Mix well. Grind the coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a clean and add to mixture.

Put the spice mixture into a pan and bring to a simmer. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should reduce and thicken. Add the coconut milk, salt, tamarind paste and bring to a simmer. Add the prawns (shrimp) and simmer, stirring now and then, until they turn opaque and are just cooked through. Just before serving, stir through the cherry tomatoes.