The Hairy Dieters

So the Hairy Bikers went on a diet and produced a book of recipes that they used whilst losing weight.

This is the Lamb, Spinach and Potato Curry.  I made it in the slow cooker instead of the oven and the only thing I'd say is, if you are going to do it in the slow cooker, use slightly less liquid.

Everyone enjoyed it anyway.

The recipe can be found here:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2210227

Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

This is my Butternut Squash soup.  Every time I make it, it's different, but it's always tasty.  I like the texture butternut squash give to the soup, almost creamy.

This soup was made with an onion, 2 leeks, a butternut squash and 2 sticks of celery, cooked until soft in vegetable stock and with the addition of some fresh thyme and some coarsely ground black pepper.  Once the veg were soft, I blitzed the soup with my stick blender to create a smooth soup.

Hungarian Creamy Pork

At Durham Food Fair, I bought some spice mixes. They can be used as dry rubs, for marinades or mixed to make dips.  The possibilities are endless.  I used the Hungarian one for this recipe but you can substitute the spice for curry powder for a spicy recipe or anything else that takes your fancy.

Hungarian Creamy Pork

Serves 4

4 pork steaks, trimmed of excess fat
1 onion, chopped
250 g  mushrooms, sliced or quartered
100 g light Philadelphia cheese
200 ml veg stock
2 tsp Hungarian spice mix or use smoked paprika, thyme and oregano

Brown the steaks in a non stick pan.  Remove and set aside.

Cook the onions and mushrooms gently until lightly browned, add the Hungarian spice mix and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add the steaks back to the pan with the stock and cook for 20 -25 mins with the lid on until the steaks are tender and the stock has reduced a bit.

Stir in the Philadelphia cheese until smooth.

Serve.

Note: You could use cream here instead of Philadelphia.

Vegetable Balti

Vegetable Balti

Serves 4

A tasty, low fat curry.  Honest, it does exist!

2 leeks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large red peppers, deseeded and diced
1 aubergine, diced
1 tbsp balti curry powder
2-3 curry leaves
1 green chilli, finely chopped
100g dry weight red lentils
300ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp tomato puree
100g frozen peas


Preheat a large non-stick pan.  Add the leeks and garlic and dry fry for 1-2 minutes until softened.  Add the red pepper, aubergine and curry powder and cook for a further 5 minutes to soften the aubergine.

Add the remaining ingredients, except the peas and simmer gently for 20 minutes until the lentils are fully cooked, topping up with extra stock if neccessary.  

Just before serving, add the peas and heat through.

Serve with rice.


As an aside, for weight watchers (uk), this is 12 propoints for the whole recipe , or 3 propoints per serving. NOT including the rice.

On it's own, this is a tasty dish, but I used it in another dish, inspired by one of Marks and Spencers new meals "Onion Bhaji topped fish " or something like that.

I used the veg balti as a base, topped it with white fish fillet and made a topping for the fish with a mixture of onion, sliced into half moons, gently fried with spices: ground coriander, cumin seeds and garam masala, then mixed with breadcrumbs.

I baked the whole thing in the oven for about 20 minutes at Gas 4/180'C until the topping was slightly crisp and the fish cooked.

Another dish that went down well at home.

Smoked Mackerel Pate

Smoked Mackerel Pate

This is another one of those recipes you throw together and add what suits you.  I often make it and have it with crackers or crispbreads, but its nice on a jacket spud as well.

Take the skin off your cooked smoked mackerel, it can be the plain or the peppered ones. Take the skin off the mackerel and flake it into a bowl, checking for bones as you go.

Mix into the mackerel, soft cheese such as Philadelphia light or extra light, lemon zest and juice and horseradish sauce if you like it.  I like it left a bit chunky but if you want it smooth, blend it before you eat.

SOS Chicken Curry with Pilau Rice

SOS Chicken Curry with Pilau Rice

This recipe comes from Ainsley Harriott's Low Fat Meals in Minutes.  It is a bit like a chicken tikka masala, but without the fat! It takes very little time to make as it uses ready prepared chicken and cooked rice.

Serves 6 (or 4 more hungry people )

500g carton passata
1-2 tbsp hot curry paste
400g cooked boneless tandoori chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
150 ml 0%fat Greek yogurt such as Total
1/2 tsp caster sugar
salt and pepper

For the pilau

2 tsp veg oil
1 onion sliced
675g cooked white rice
1 tsp turmeric
25g raisins

chopped fresh coriander to garnish, optional

Put the passata into a pan and stir in the curry paste.  Heat through gently.

Meanwhile, for the rice, heat the oil in a wok and stir fry the onion for 4 mins until nicely browned.  Stir in the rice, turmeric and raisins and heat gently for 3-4 minutes, adding a splash of water if it gets too dry.

Add the chicken and yogurt to the tomato mixture, bring to the boil and simmer gently for 2 minutes until warmed through.  Stir in the sugar and season to taste.

Season the rice and divide between serving plates.  Spoon over the chicken mixture and garnish with coriander.

If you really can't be bothered with doing the rice, get some of that microwave rice and have that with the curry instead......even quicker !

My take on Greek Potatoes

My take on Greek Potatoes

I don't know how realistic these are but they remind me of Greek holidays.  Great with any meal.

For 4 people

1 potato per person (about the size you would use for a jacket spud)

Cut the potatoes into wedges or chunks and put into a roasting tin.

Mix together 1/2 pt vegetable stock, 1 tbsp olive oil, juice of 1 lemon (use the zest as well for extra lemoniness (is that a word ?)

Pour over the potatoes and sprinkle with lots of oregano.

Cook at Gas 6/200'C until the potatoes are cooked and the stock is mostly used up.  They won't be crispy like roast potatoes but will be soft and squishy and slightly browned.

I made these to have with a Stufatho which came from The Australian Women's Weekly "Cooking Class Greek".

Stufatho

Serves 4-6

1kg braising steak, cut into cubes
30 g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
6cm piece orange rind
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
125ml dry red wine
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp sugar
125 ml water
1 tbsp olive oil, extra
500g baby onions

Heat half the butter and half the oil in a pan and cook the beef until browned, cooking in batches if neccessary.  Remove from the pan.

Add chopped onion, garlic and rind to the pan and cook until the onion is soft. Stir in the tomatoes, wine, vinegar, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, water and beef and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer gently, covered for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, heat the extra oil in a separate pan and cook the baby onions, stirring until browned all over.

Add the onions to the pan and simmer, covered for a further 20 minutes until the onions are tender.  Remove the lid and simmer for a further 10 minutes and the sauce is thickened slightly.  Remove the rind before cooking.

Lamb Dhansak

Lamb Dhansak

I'm partial to a bit of curry and this recipe is a favourite. It orignally comes from Olive magazine.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9202/lamb-dhansak

Coffee and Cardamom Cake with Pistachio Cream

Coffee and Cardamom Cake with Pistachio Cream

A James Martin recipe.

Unusual and tasty.

For the cake:

200 g  butter, softened

200 g caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

3 tbsp strong coffee

8 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground

250 g self raising flour

For the filling:

250 ml double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

5 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground

60 g pistachios, shells removed and roughly chopped

For the icing:

110 g icing sugar

1 tbsp warm coffee

Preheat oven to Gas 3/190ºC

Grease and line a 9"/23cm deep cake tin

Whisk butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs gradually, beating well between each addition until well incorporated.

Add the coffee and cardamom, stir in then fold in the flour.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20-25 or until golden and well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Whisk the cream until soft peaks are formed. Add the cardamom, icing sugar and pistachios and gently mix until smooth.

To assemble the cake, carefully cut the cake in half horizontally with a knife and place the bottom half on a plate. Spread the pistachio cream onto the bottom half of the cake, top with the second half of the cake.

Combine the icing sugar and warm coffee and spoon over the cake allowing it to drizzle over the sides.

The Leek Show

We stumbled across a leek show in the local pub one day. I didn't realise leek shows were still held these days.  Here's some pictures of the lovely veg and flowers:

Chicken, Lemon and Garlic Casserole

Chicken, Lemon and Garlic Casserole

This recipe was on a Slimming World Calendar.  You don't have to be a dieter to enjoy it though!

Serves 4

500g skinless, boneless, chicken thighs, cut into chunks

2 onions, chopped

2 large carrots, cut into batons

1 bulb of garlic.......yes a whole bulb

700ml chicken stock

200g green beans, halved

1 lemon, thinly sliced

freshly chopped tarragon (or a pinch dried)

Spray a large lidded non-stick frying pan with oil and brown the chicken pieces. (use a small amount of oil if you don't like spray oil...I don't)

Add the onions, carrot, whole garlic bulb and stock.  Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, covered.

Add the green beans and lemon slices.  If using dried tarragon, add it now.  Cook, without a lid, for approximately 10 minutes until the green beans are cooked.

Remove from the heat and remove the garlic bulb.  You can throw this away, or alternatively, squeeze the garlic out and add to the casserole.

Sprinkle with fresh tarragon and serve.

For a completely one pot meal, add some new potatoes with the carrots.

Stollen Bread Pudding

Stollen Bread Pudding

Well, Christmas is over and there's a little bit of stollen left, it's a bit sorry for itself, slightly dry.  Mmmmmm, lets make it into a pudding.

So, I sliced it up and put it into a small baking dish and sprinkled it with a few chopped nuts.

Then I beat 2 eggs with some milk and cinnamon and poured it over the bread in the dish.  

I left it to soak for about 30 mins then sprinkled it with demerara sugar and baking it in the oven.

The oven was on about 180-200'C and I baked it for about 20 minutes, until the eggy bit was set.

Delicious.......................