I had a pretty full on day today at work – back to back meetings and then some crappy traffic to slow us down on the way home. I didn’t really have much patience for cooking so chose this quick Italian salad that’s ready in 10 minutes
Perfect for those nights when you need something fresh and tasty super quick Ingredients
3 slices of Prosciutto
1 beef tomato cut into slices
1-2 organic mozzarella balls
5-6 sprigs mint
10(ish) basil leaves
Asparagus
Lambs lettuce or rocket
Juice of 1 lemon
5tbp Extra Virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Ten minute meals are the way forward
Method
I split the asparagus lengthways and put them under the grill for 3-4 minutes on high, turning them over half way through.
I finely chopped the mint and basil and put it into a bowl with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Mix well.
Arrange your tomato, mozzarella and lettuce on a plate, drizzle over some of your dressing then add the prosciutto and the asparagus and add a final drizzle of the dressing.
Ok Sunday, finally the best day of the week arrives, we had the lovely and newly married Kavish and Keyasha round for lunch having just arrived from South Africa this morning. Obviously they need a good meal after such a long flight!
Cue clean cheating, clean eating with a couple of rogue additions to make life easier and to make it a little more palatable to people who are not yet initiated into the world of clean eating! Little do they know they’ll be my guinea pigs for the day đ
‘Naughty’ snacks
We started off with some snacks, I baked some pittas in the oven for ten minutes sprinkled with cinnamon and made my sweet potato crisps, we also had some of those new Pringles nachos which were yummy with a dip made of spicy chilli sauce mixed with mayonnaise.
A delicious Sunday Roast
For main I roasted a leg of spring lamb. In a sauce pan, I melted coconut oil with cumin seeds, curry powder, chilli powder and salt. I sliced 4 garlic cloves lengthways and put them in slits I cut into the meat. Then poured the spice sauce over the top.
Then, I lined a roasting tin with foil and added sliced onion, carrots, parsnips and any other veggies I could lay my hands on! I poured in a glass of red wine and a glass of water added the leg of lamb and popped in my meat thermometer and off it went to oven heaven at 180 degrees.
I do not roast my meats in the oven based on time. I only ever use a thermometer, in my experience this provides a much more accurate result.
We only have one hob working at the moment so making a roast is an interesting challenge, I par boiled peeled potatoes for 10 minutes then did the same with peeled parsnips. I lined another tin with foil and added a tablespoon of coconut oil and melted it in the oven. Then I added some salt, drained the spuds and roughed them up a bit before adding them to the roasting tin for 1 hour, turning them every 20 minutes.
I put the parsnips in another roasting tin with 2 tablespoons of maple syrup and a tiny bit of coconut oil. I set aside to roast later.
I split Brussels Sprouts in half and lightly fried them on high in a little coconut oil to char them, then added a small amount of water and put the lid on to steam them through.
Then I boiled up some carrots and green beans and left them plain because of the flavours going on with the lamb and the to-be-gravy. I roasted the parsnips for about 20 minutes before everything else was ready.
I took the lamb out when my thermometer went off and left it wrapped up to rest, strained the liquid from theroastung tin into a saucepan and boiled it down to concentrate the flavours with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the meat had rested, I sliced it up and poured any meat juices into the gravy. Everyone had seconds and thirds so I can only assume it was a good feed.
Sweet potato brownies with chocolate sauce and ice cream
For dessert I made Deliciously Ella’s sweet potato brownies adding flaked almonds for texture and with melted 75% dark chocolate sauce and a little bit of shop bought vanilla ice cream. I wanted to see if serving a healthy/clean dessert with dinner guests would work. I think it did (you’ll have to ask the guestsđ) but I definitely wouldn’t do it every time – every now and then we all need a little bit of naughty but I’m glad I tried it.
Sweet potato brownies with chocolate sauce and ice creamHaving written this post, I’m not sure I agree with the title anymore, I don’t feel like I’ve really cheated because I don’t feel guilty and it’s not really a confession but you get my drift…
I’m a big fan of fast cooking during the weekday, I have a regimental order post-5.30pm that must be followed otherwise we’re heading for a meltdown (mine, not my son). I learned this Vietnamese salad as part of a cookery lesson at Recipease a couple of months back and realised its a great little ‘go to’ dish when you need something quick and super healthy to make you feel good. Most of it is just prep work with a final flourish at the end to pull it all together.
Vietnamese Prawn Salad
You can also prep the salad and wrap it in soaked rice paper and then use the dressing as a dipping sauce – Vietnamese Rolls – this is quite a nice ‘fancy’ starter when you have friends round.
If you’re not big on prawns, leave it out or replace with chicken, mackerel or beef strips just make sure they’re cool before you add to the salad/rolls.
Laura wrapping Vietnamese Prawn RollsVietnamese Prawn Rolls
Ingredients
Packet of cooked prawns
Vegetable stir fry packet including bean sprouts
Buckwheat/Soba noodles
10cm piece of Mooli (if you can get it)
1 carrot
10cm piece of cucumber
3 spring onions
Good handful of nuts – cashews or peanuts
For the salad dressing/dipping sauce
1/4 cup of Fish Sauce
1/3 cup of either Rice wine vinegar, red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar (I tend to use whatever I have in the cupboard)
Approx 4 tbsp Honey – depends on your taste
Juice of 1/2 a lime
2 cloves of garlic
2cm piece of ginger, cut into matchsticks
At least 2 fresh chillies split lengthways
Optional Pack of Rice Paper Sheets
Extra chopped chillies in the salad
Method
Put all the ingredients for the salad dressing (or dipping sauce) in a saucepan and heat gently for 5-6 minutes then take off the heat and leave to cool. Taste it with a bit of salad from your bowl – its meant to be quite strong – add more of the fish sauce, vinegar, lime or honey depending on what you think it needs. Go for less sweetness than you think it needs.
Put the stir fry packet in a large bowl. Peel the skin off the carrot and then proceed to use your peeler to peel the carrot into the salad bowl so you end up with nice thin ribbons of carrot. Do the same with the mooli and the cucumber. Alternatively you can cut them up into matchsticks if you prefer. Boil the soba/buckwheat noodles in water for 3-4 minutes and drain, leave to cool then add to your salad bowl.
Slice the prawns lengthways and slice the spring onions finely at an angle and add to the bowl. Chop up your nuts and leave to one side.
Once your dressing/sauce has cooled, pour 4-5 tablespoons of it over your salad, toss and taste to see if it needs more of anything. Add a final squeeze of lime juice then throw on your nuts and munch away!
If you’re turning these into rolls then just soak a paper sheet in warm water, as per packet instructions, put it on a clean kitchen towel and then put 1-2 tablespoons of the salad into the middle. Wrap it up and put any left over salad on the side or save it for lunch the next day. Keep the dipping sauce on the side otherwise the sheets will go too mushy.
Evening all, If you’re reading this then you are very loyal supporters considering I haven’t posted for months, thank you for sticking with me!Read More »
Laura of London 