Paella is incredible. It’s one of the first foods from overseas that I remember loving. Holidaying in Spain fairly often when I was younger gave me loads of opportunity to get used to this beautiful seafood rice dish – surprising considering this was a time when I was incredibly fussy and actively disliked so many staple foods, even including plain white rice. I remember saying that I only liked ‘yellow rice’.
The highlight of my paella journey was probably having it for our Christmas dinner about ten years ago, and I can honestly say, with that incredible seafood, I didn’t miss the traditional roast at all.
There are many different varieties within Spain itself, paella valenciana being one of the most popular, and hailing from the city after which it’s named. You’ll find paella with a combination of seafood and chicken, some with either or, and sometimes vegetarian paellas are available.
Other variations that wouldn’t necessarily be classed as paella are arroz negro (black rice) which is made with squid ink, and fideua which uses short lengths of noodle-like pasta instead of rice. I’ve only ever had this once, but it was cooked by the abuela (Grandma) of the little boy I was looking after as an au pair in Barcelona. We went to stay in the grandparents house in Costa Brava for a weekend. She cooked this on the outdoor oven, and we sat in the sun by their pool (alright for some) enjoying this incredible meal. This was before I’d discovered my incredible appetite and I honestly struggled to deal with the amount of food they would try and pile into my plate, but they really did look after me.
I’m sure most Spaniards would be completely disapproving of any ‘paella’ recipe coming from elsewhere in the world, much as they were when Jamie Oliver added chorizo to his version, but you can guarantee that isn’t going to stop me from trying.
I browsed a selection of recipes online in the days before I was planning on attempting my own version, and so when it came down to it, I was able to wing this much-loved dish of mine.
When attempting dishes like this that are so adored in their country of origin, you kind of have to forget what people might think. Forget about how others might rip it apart, criticise every wrong turn. Just do it your way. Of course, if you are making any obvious major adjustments, it’s better to acknowledge this, and the fact that your version makes no attempt to follow the ‘traditional’ norms, but otherwise, you’re all good, and I don’t think I stray too far from tradition here.
Paella takes a bit of patience, but it’s actually very simple. My first attempt was certainly a raging success, even if I do say so myself.
Just promise me one thing – if you’ve bought one of those packets of frozen mixed seafood that no longer even bears any resemblance to seafood, not even an ounce of flavour, just don’t even bother with the paella. Not worth it hun x
Serves 2
1 red pepper
garlic
onion
Paella rice
Saffron
tinned tomatoes
pimentón
white wine
chicken or shellfish stock
peas
selection of seafood (mussels, squid, prawns etc.)
chicken thighs (optional)
lemon
Preheat oven to 180C.
Roast red pepper until it’s bursting from its skin.
Heat oil in pan and fry garlic and onion until fragrant and softened.
Add paella rice and coat with the oil already in the pan.
Add a small amount of the tinned tomatoes or normal salad tomatoes.
Add pimentón.
Make up the stock and add the saffron then pour into rice bit by bit along with a splash of white wine.
Add handful of peas and season.
Whilst the paella is cooking, cook the seafood (and/or chicken) separately if necessary and then add to pan when done along with the cooking juices. Prawns can cook simply by sitting on top of the paella, same with squid. Mussels should be washed and cooked along with a splash of white wine, garlic and butter until open. Use your common sense with anything else.
Keep adding stock until the rice is cooked through but still firm and there is no liquid left in the pan (if you overcook it the rice will go mushy so make sure you keep tasting as you go along).
Stir through the roasted red pepper and top with the seafood, ensuring everything is warm and cooked through.
Before serving squeeze lemon all over and serve with slices of lemon on top.
It may look like a lot of effort but actually the individual steps really aren’t. In terms of the ingredients, it can be as much or little effort as you like. Go for a simple chicken and/or prawn paella if that’s all you fancy. Or head down to your local fish counter to see what they’ve got in for a more ‘all-out’ dish like the one above, featuring mussels, monkfish, squid and langoustines.
Gonna end this one, bigging myself up a bit with something my friend said – apparently, after spending a year abroad in Barcelona, the flavour of the above paella that I cooked was better than any he’d had over there.
When I visited Morocco about 7 years ago now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that taken by the food. I entirely put this down to the fact that I was still in my fussy phase at 18, rather than the food actually not being good.
Tagine and Cous Cous were frequently on the menu, and apparently neither of these satisfied me back then. Added to that was the fact that I was on a school ‘expedition’, so most of the meals that I was eating had been cooked for me by our hosts, whether that was Rashid’s wife in Taroudant or the amazing team who looked after us during our camping trek in the Atlas Mountains. Looking back now, this gives me even more reason to be in awe of the food. No choice, just delicious home-cooked (or mountain-cooked) meals dished up for us every breakfast, lunch and dinner. It really was a treat I should’ve appreciated more.
I’ve not really eaten much Moroccan food here either. I once had a tagine from Giraffe at Birmingham aiport, and despite having had some lovely meals from there before, it really wasn’t good.
Other than that, my inspiration for this probably has to come from my Dad’s leftover lamb stew, that we’d have the day after a Sunday Roast. For years I refused to eat it if it had apricots/dates in, as the idea of mixing sweet with savoury really didn’t work for me, but now that’s my favourite part.
I’ve finally come up with my own recipe for it, along with a side dish for mopping up all the sauces, inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Cheat’s Paratha’.
Of course it would be more ‘authentic’ to serve with cous cous, but ultimately you can choose whichever side dish you wish. This one’s satisfyingly indulgent, but I guess cous cous would be the slightly more health-conscious option.
A few disclaimers before I get to the point.
I don’t do recipe writing. It’s not my forte, but I do want to be able to share my successes. Because of that, my way of instruction won’t be the most precise – you’ll have to trust yourself to go with instinct sometimes, but the basic guidelines will be there.
Serves 2
For the stew
Ingredients:
1 onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 tin of chickpeas
1tsp tamarind paste
1tsp ginger paste
2 tsp rose harissa pasta
1tsp ras el hanout
1 ½ tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
handful of dried apricots
small handful of dates
leftover lamb
water
salt/pepper
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion and garlic.
When fragrant tip in drained chickpeas.
Add the pastes and spices, give it a good mix and cook for a few minutes.
Chop dried apricots and dates into smaller pieces (generally I’d chop apricots in halves or quarters and dates into thirds), and add these along with the chopped tomatoes and seasoning.
Chuck in the leftover lamb and add enough water so that everything is almost completely submerged.
Leave to cook on a low heat for preferably a couple of hours (if you’re massively impatient like I often am, a shorter cooking time just to reduce the liquid slightly will do)
This stew-style sauce should still be liquidy when ready – don’t expect it to reduce down completely. You are aiming for the perfect balance between a thick pasty sauce and watery broth.
For the ‘Paratha’
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
1 chilli
½ ball of mozzarella
1 tsp chilli powder
As I mentioned before, this is inspired by Nadiya Hussain’s Cheat’s Paratha. Certainly not a paratha (type of flatbread) in the typical sense, instead of having to make the dough from scratch, here you are just using puff pastry. It ends up having the most amazing soft, spongy texture, and I’ve just added a couple of extra ingredients to make it even more delicious.
Cut your ready-rolled puff pastry into 2 rectangles (you probably want enough that when you roll it into a ball, it’s a fist size).
Roll each rectangle into a ball.
Finely slice your chilli, and tear the mozzarella lump into smaller pieces.
There is no precise technique to this next bit – basically divide the chilli/mozzarella mix into two piles – one for each paratha, and press the puff pastry ball into that pile, constantly pushing the dough around so that the chilli and mozzarella becomes incorporated into the dough. At this point you can also sprinkle over as much chilli powder as you can handle. You want to knead the dough/push it around for a couple of minutes so that the mozzarella and chilli are evenly distributed throughout the dough rather than just being concentrated in one area.
With a rolling pin, roll them flat into circles – I like mine quite thick, so I’d probably go for the thickness of two pound coins. If you’ve used rubbish, cheap mozzarella like me, don’t worry if the dough is incredibly sticky and wet, it might seem like a disaster but it will still work fine.
Heat a frying pan on high, and once rolled out, add your paratha to the dry pan. There’s no specific cooking time, but you want to leave it until it’s crisped up and is no longer sticky at all on one side, and then you can flip it to crisp the other side. A couple of minutes should be enough, but just monitor it and use your common sense.
When fully cooked, you should find that they are browned up on both sides but that the centre is soft and slightly gooey and when you pull it apart, the cheese should stretch between both sides.
Serve the stew with your paratha on the side for a cheesy, spicy dipping experience!
Would love to know if anyone ends up trying this, so please leave a comment or connect with me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn.
Okay, so that’s not strictly true; if my Bosch Multitalent 3 Food Processor lasts the entire duration of my hopefully long life, I’ll be slightly surprised to say the least, but even so, it’s certainly not a ‘use for a few months and then forget all about’ kind of gift.
The same cannot be said, however, for the tin of Cartwright and Butler fudge, which lasted approximately 24 hours after having torn the wrapping paper from the giant box in which it was encased. In this instance, it definitely was just for Christmas.
I thought about whether to do this post, all too familiar of a vomit-inducing Youtube haul (I actually watch these all the time as there’s something addictive about them), but still I hate the ‘look at all this stuff that I either didn’t pay for, or I did pay for because I’m rolling in money for doing fuck all’ kind of posts.
I can’t decide if this is actually any different, but there are no Tiffany lockets, Michael Kors watches (sick face), or Gucci belts and handbags (actually just sick face all of those). Instead here you’ll find a selection of edible and inedible goodies that if you’re still reading, you might actually be interested in purchasing yourself.
Not everything Santa brought me was food-related (he very kindly gifted me some toothpaste, deodorant and make up wipes too – make of that what you will), but a lot of it revolved around the kitchen, and I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.
I should probably start with the aforementioned food processor then. It’s something I’ve wanted for a while (not necessarily that specific one but just something to mush stuff up). I already have a stick blender, and a smoothie maker, but nothing in between for mixing up larger batches of ingredients.
I did my research into how it all works last night, and there are a fair few exciting parts to this ‘MultiTalent’ gadget. The main processor bowl has various blades and attachments. Firstly, you have the standard choppy, mixy sharp blade that you’ll find in any standard processor (like I’ve mentioned before, we only use technical terminology here). It also comes with a plastic ‘blade’ which is designed for mixing up doughs, taking the effort out of strenuous hand-mixing (that’s where I get my bulging biceps from).
As well as those, there are two chopping disks. These sit just underneath the lid of the bowl, and so when you feed your ingredients through the funnel in the top, the blades slice them to the desired thickness (there’s a thick side and a fine side). The other chopping disk is used for speed-grating, and again, this blade has a coarse-grating side and a fine-grating side.
Remove the bowl, and you can add on the blender, ready for prepping smoothies, juices, sauces or soups. This add-on will probably get the least use of them all for me, as like I mentioned, I already have a specific smoothie maker, and my stick blender is perfect for soups, as you don’t even need to move the liquid from the pan.
Finally, what will be massively useful for me is the smaller add-on container. I often make spice/curry pastes for the dishes I cook up, and have been used to using the stick blender for that too. But when I’m literally just making a paste for a meal for one person, there’s so little of the mixture that it barely even reaches the blades on the stick blender. So this small container will be perfect for those kind of things – finely mashing up all those seeds, berries and bits of diced ginger and veg to create the perfect paste quantities for my main meals.
On to some of the edible goodies I found under the tree. First up is this Shawarma Paste by Belazu. I first found a love for Shawarma when I spent a few months living in Granada in Southern Spain. Every city has its own post-night out snack, and I would like to personally thank the Moors for bringing the hangover cure that is Shawarma from North Africa to the region of Andalucía. What could be more desirable in your inebriated state than a stodgy wrap, full of flavoursome kebab meat, salad and all the sauce.
I’ve never made anything along those lines myself, but you can guarantee I’ll give it a go now. It might not be in its Andalucían wrap form, but my mind is running wild with thoughts of all the delicious stews I could make that would benefit from this beautiful-scented paste.
Sticking with the Middle Eastern/North African theme, I unwrapped this lovely little jar of Steenbergs’ Dukkah. I had heard of it before, but truth be told, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly what it was, so here’s the Wikipedia explanation:
… is an Egyptian condiment, consisting of a mixture of herbs, nuts (usually hazelnut) and spices. It is typically used as a dip with bread or fresh vegetables for an hors d’oeuvre.
Having done some research, there seem to be a number of ways to cook with Dukkah. It can be used as a crispy coating for meat and fish (or even veg), or can be sprinkled over salads, eggs or toast for added crunch and flavour.
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It’s customary in my house to receive some kind of Lindt chocolate at Christmas time (as if 24 days of Lindt advent calendar chocolate hadn’t been enough). I’ll actually be saving this milk chocolate bear ready for when I need chocolate to bake with. If I don’t want to overload myself with chocolate, I tend to put it to one side in the cupboard, and inevitably at some point I’ll be making a cake, hot chocolate or sauce that requires melted chocolate – and there it is, beautiful tasting, quality chocolate just waiting to be used up.
One thing that I’ve wanted to cook with for a while, but not necessarily had the patience to hunt down (it’s not actually that difficult to find at all) is liquid smoke. Perfect for BBQ style dishes, and actually also featuring heavily in many vegan recipes I’ve come across, this sauce has a unique flavour that can’t really be created from scratch using indoor cooking appliances. I think a big rack of BBQ ribs are in order now.
I was possibly most excited by this Doctor Seaweed, Weed and Wonderful, Smoked Scottish Seaweed Infused Rapeseed Oil. It may have an incredibly longwinded title, but it’s not that complex to use at all. It smells really interesting, and the bottle suggests drizzling it over fish or something along those lines to add smoky flavours of the sea.
As if my spice cupboard needed any further additions, Santa treated me to this cute little pack of nutmeg with a mini grater. First off, I LOVE the grater. Anything miniature has me whining and cooing about how adorable it is, but it’s actually quite practical too in this case. I still have a little bit of nutmeg left over from what my parents brought me back from Burma, but it is running kind of low, so now I have this lovely back-up ready and waiting. I honestly think nutmeg is my favourite spice. It just has the most beautiful warmth to it, and probably reminds me sentimentally of the bread sauce I smothered all over my roast chicken for years when I was (even) little(r than I am now).
It took me a while to work this next one out, and I’m still not entirely sure about it, but these are hot smoked paprika flakes. I’ve never used paprika flakes before, only ground paprika, so I imagine these will add a more intense burst of flavour. I do love spice (heat) so a sprinkling of this over avocado toast or something like that will be delicious.
Continuing on the paprika theme are these super cute mini paprika packets. Each one has a slightly different note – there’s smoky, sweet, and bittersweet. This is so useful for me, as I often follow recipes that ask for ‘sweet’ paprika, and all I have is what I consider to be ‘generic’ paprika so I just use that. Now I actually have slightly different concoctions of the spice that will add subtly different flavours to my dishes.
I think I now have enough saffron to last me a looong while, but who would be unhappy with that, as it’s the most expensive spice. I’ve also heard a fair bit about Brindisa being a great-quality supplier of Spanish ingredients within the UK – they have shops and tapas restaurants in London and so it’s nice to have something of theirs to try (literally off to browse their website right now…)
Another product that I’m happy to have a top up of is the Taylor and Colledge Organic Vanilla Bean Paste. I reluctantly (reluctant because of the price) bought some of this from Morrisons a few months ago, and I’m so close to running out, so it was a perfect coincidence that I found another little tub of it waiting for me yesterday morning. Obviously a tiny bit of vanilla bean paste or essence goes a long way, so this should hopefully last me a while.
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Buying Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats earlier this year introduced me to the idea of using Moringa and Açaí powder in my vegan cooking. Obviously I’d eaten açaí a million times over in Brazil, but never thought of using the powdered form. Rachel makes pancakes using the ‘superfood’ that is moringa powder (the whole superfood thing is mostly bullshit, but still, it looks interesting), and also an açaí smoothie bowl using that powder. These Indigo Nutrition packs are pretty big and so despite probably being quite pricey, they should last me a while. I’ll be making both the pancakes and the smoothie bowl quite soon, and so you should you’ll be able to see those finished brunch items in one of my upcoming Meat Me Halfway posts.
God, I’m still going. There’s actually quite a bit left. I loved the fact that instead of buying shitty crackers full of tat, my parents made crackers out of toilet roll and tissue paper with personalised things inside. My treat was this tiny tiny tub of Nutella, and you know what, I may never use it because it’s that cute. I don’t think I can even bear to open it…
I’d actually forgotten that I’d asked Santa for some mini tart tins, as when I was in Morrisons a few months ago, I saw that they did a pack of 2 for about a fiver, and so I couldn’t resist buying them. Well, now I’ve got 2 more, which is actually pretty helpful, as I think these ones are slightly bigger, and so would be perfect for making individual savoury tarts, whereas I feel like the ones I already have are a better size for sweet desserts.
The last set of food items came in the form of a hamper that came with the food processor. There was actually so much in here – all by Cartwright and Butler. There was a box of butter shortbread which were as expected – buttery and crunchy with a sprinkling of sugar on top. There was also the tin of fudge mentioned earlier (yes, that tin that I devoured in less than 24 hours). The fudge was beautiful and I’d definitely recommend that if you’re looking for a lovely gift for someone. Whilst the fudge came in a pretty greeny blue tin, the hazelnut truffles were housed in a lilac tin – both of which I’ll be reusing, filling them with other ingredients in my kitchen once I’ve eaten everything inside. The truffles weren’t exactly what I was expecting – I thought that truffles always had a soft centre, but these were solid throughout with a strong, bitter-flavoured cocoa coating. They weren’t unpleasant, but just not what I’d thought they’d be.
Savoury-wise, they’d included a packet of cheese biscuits, which were very moreish. I could say I wasn’t in love with them flavour and texture-wise, but then you’d question why and how I’d already managed to finish them all (:
Just a couple more bits in the hamper – a lovely little tin housing a big slab of cherry and almond cake. I sat in my room looking through all the bits I’d accumulated, wanting to try a little bit of everything, but unfortunately I didn’t have a knife up there. Instead of going downstairs to get one to slice a piece off like a normal person would, I peeled back the plastic wrapping, and just took a bite out of the side of the cake, shoving it in my face, eating it as if it were a child-size cake bar. Do not judge me. It was actually so lovely – there’s only half of it left, and I’m not sure whether it’s going to make it to my friends’ for New Year’s Eve or not.
The jar of rhubarb custards was super cute, and the mason jars are going to be perfect for making jam or something like that afterwards. I’m not normally a huge fan of sweets, but these will be nice for when I have a sweet craving but don’t want something too indulgent.
Finally in the hamper was a jar of apple chutney. I love chutneys so I’m very exicted about this. It smells amazing, and I love the thick, chunky texture. I haven’t decided what I’m going to use it with but I reckon it’d be a welcome side sauce for most things I’d cook.
I hadn’t heard of Cartwright and Butler before, but this hamper gives me the impression that their stuff is perfect for gifts, both in terms of taste and presentation, so it’d definitely be worth checking out their website (assuming they have one – I haven’t actually got round to that yet as I’ll probably want everything).
A couple of non-kitchen-related inedible items now, all still to do with food of course. The first is a book that I saw newly–released on Amazon not long ago. ‘This is a book for people who love hot sauce’ is a short and sweet A5 book all about, you guessed it, hot sauce. From the science behind the chemical processes involved and the Scoville scale, to the history, to the variations of hot sauce all over the world, it won’t take me long to blast through this book. I love hot sauce, and if you do too it’s a novelty read.
On the theme of books, I also got this beautiful blank notebook, which I’m going to use as my own personal recipe book. I’m going to fill it with a compilation of base recipes (think different pastries, staple sauces etc), and on top of that, once I perfect recipes of my own, or come up with ideas for potential recipes, I’ll jot all of those down in here too. I want it to be a book that I cherish, and one that I continue to add to for a very long time.
Before I disappear off to enjoy the last few hours of boxing day (before I head back to work fml), my final semi-related present was these incredibly comfy gym leggings from Gymshark. You may have no interest in these whatsoever, and why should you? But just in case you do get a little thrill from heading out for a run, or lifting weights in the gym after all that Christmas fun (there really is no need to feel like you should..), then these leggings have quickly become some of my Gymshark favourites. They fit true to size, aren’t too long for someone short like me, and are tight, sucking me in in all the right places, without feeling uncomfortably restrictive (like some of the other Gymshark styles).
So whether your New Year’s resolution is to cook more, eat more, read more or work out more, hopefully some of the items above that I was lucky enough to find wrapped up under the tree will be of interest to you.
I can’t wait to get to work in the kitchen with them, and no doubt over the next few months I’ll be adding even more to my gadget and store cupboard collections.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (or just a lovely, relaxing break if you haven’t celebrated).
The New Year may be just around the corner, but resolutions or not, we’ve still gotta eat, so…
We’re already 4 weeks into what I’ve decided is going to be a year-long series – sounds intense, but that’s actually only 12 posts and so I’m 1/3 of the way there already.
Again this time round, there has been an interesting mix of fantastic meals and some that were disappointing, but I’m quickly realising how diverse vegan food can be.
Vegan food used to equal bland veg and a bit of quorn but you’ll see so much variety in the things I’ve eaten, both at home and out.
This isn’t quite everything I had, as 2 meals a day plus snacks for 7 days adds up to a lot, and I waffle enough as it is, but I’ve chosen the most relevant and interesting (good and bad) things I ate.
I do love that I can flick through the non-vegan recipe books I have and find a few meat/fish/dairy/egg-free recipes. There are never loads, but enough to satisfy my vegan week cravings.
Take my first meal of Week 4 for example – yes, I’m back there again, it’s Nadiya. Soup is such an easy one to make vegan and it’s massively satisfying, both with its winter warming powers, and with it being surprisingly filling. This was a carrot, cumin and coriander soup – very easy to make (stick blenders are life-saving, and not at all expensive), with lots of curried flavour. Another example here of me using up some rubbish leftovers – literally just a bagel that had fallen apart shoved in the oven to toast and then dip.
One thing I love doing, particularly with vegan meals, is having a mini feast (oxymoron?), combining a few different recipes on one plate. It can be time-consuming and a fair bit of effort (and washing up) but it’s a great way to get in a load of different veg and healthy bits whilst making them a bit more interesting.
This one was a Rick Stein Mexican feast – 100% vegan. I think often with vegan diets people tend to combine a load of side dishes to make one meal and that’s what I’ve done here. I started off with his ‘Patty’s Green Beans’ in a kind of tomatoey, chilli sauce. I had those with the slightly more indulgent Cauliflower Fritters with Cashew Sauce, and to finish it all off, some Mexican Red Rice. I know cashews are often used in vegan pasta sauces etc but I’d never tried to make one myself. I was surprised at how easily the soaked cashews could be blended and reduced down into a thick, creamy mixture. I can’t say I loved the fritters, but I am always looking for new ways to cook cauliflower, as it’s something I used to hate.
The Mexican Red Rice was the highlight for me. It had so much to it– from the coriander, to the chilli, it really would be appropriate to use the phrase ‘bursting with flavour’. I didn’t see any one part of this meal as the ‘main’ component, but I don’t find that important, I don’t always feel like I need a meat replacement, and as previously mentioned, I’m pretty happy with a selection of ‘sides’ like these.
My first non-home-cooked meal came on a lazy weekend day when, for once, I just didn’t feel like cooking. There didn’t seem to be that many vegan options available to me on UberEats, but I did find somewhere I hadn’t heard of before, that after having a little stalk of on Instagram, looked like it had some great options. From Miranda Café I got their Peanut Butter Cacao Banana Bread and Seitan Reuben Sandwich with an Aztec Spiced Hot Chocolate.
The banana bread looked amazing in photos so that was what influenced me. It was nicely presented with a pot of berry compote on the side. To be honest, it was very dense and heavy, however, it tasted great. There was a gooey chocolatey centre to it, which added moisture, and the sharpness of the compote helped to combat the thick peanut butter on top. It is indulgent, but for an exciting vegan brunch, I would recommend it.
Then we have the Reuben sandwich. Typically a Reuben sandwich features salt beef and sauerkraut, but obviously that wasn’t going to be the case with this one. The first thing I had to do was to remove 2/3 of the salad. Now I’m not scared of a few leaves, but this sandwich contained a whole forest of them. It was pretty ridiculous (maybe this is a tactic places use to hide a potential lack of filling??). Once I’d removed that though, I was ready to dive in. The actual flavour was good, and there was a nice crunch from the seitan patty (decided I love seitan), and a slight ooze from the melted cheese. I enjoyed it, but I’d firstly say more cheese would be fab, and secondly I’m not sure about calling it a Reuben, because it bore little resemblance to one in my mind.
Finally the hot chocolate. I’ll keep it short and sweet (unlike the drink). It tasted like warm cinnamon milky water. Very overpriced. Get your hot choc from Pret. The end.
Okaaaay, meal prep for the week and how many times do I have to say – ‘and back to Nadiya?’. She has a fab recipe for an Indian 5 spice veg stir fry so this was a great opportunity to use up loads and loads of leftover veg. After prepping it all, I was convinced this would easily feed me for 5 meals, but crazily once I’d cooked it, I only managed two. It was, however, delicious and very satisfying – and that’s just veg!
We move on to treat time. Or should I say Doughnut Time, with their wonderful vegan doughnuts. So they brought out a sort-of new one. They’ve had the MEGA (large, birthday cake-sized doughnut) Chris Hemsworthy on their menu for a lifetime, and they finally created an identical mini version, aptly named Liam Hemsworthy, after his younger brother. This is a red velvet dough with a cookies and cream buttercream, chocolate drizzle and topped with chocolate cookie pieces. It’s not too intense as it doesn’t have a filling inside, and the buttercream on top is delicious.
God, you are going to get bored of me, but back to Nadiya!!! This one wasn’t planned, I just made a few changes to my meals and so had to hunt for something vegan in my cookbooks that I had all the ingredients for. And that’s how I ended up making her Red Lentils with 5 Spice Soda Bread. The lentils were delicious and creamy, and the soda bread would’ve been perfect for scooping it up if I’d perfected it. The bread did actually taste decent, it just looks a bit of a dodgy effort (not sure why it resembles a jacket potato…). To go with those I had Rachel Ama’s Curried Cauliflower with Coconut Raita which was okay but not mind-blowing. Another effort in my cauliflower research.
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I love that Ainsley Harriott has a whole section in his Caribbean Kitchen book dedicated to vegetarian and vegan recipes, and it’s honestly one of my favourite books. Tofu is dodgy territory for me – I remember making Nadiya’s tofu with edamame bean salad months ago and surprisingly enjoying it, but anytime I’ve tried to cook with tofu since, I’ve found the texture tricky to stomach. Anyway, I decided to be brave and try his Ginger Beer Battered Tofu with a spicy tomato sauce, and I had James Martin’s Green Beans and Broccoli with Hazelnut (vegan) Butter on the side. The batter was so easy to make, and cooked so well. The crunchiness of the batter was so essential to me being able to enjoy the tofu. The veggie side was also super tasty, now that I’ve managed to get over my fear of the woody flavour of hazelnuts.
Now it’s sweet treat time again (because once a week is absolutely not enough). I went back to Mrs (Emma) Hollingsworth as I’ve loved her vegan energy balls that I made before, and her recipes are so simple, requiring very few ingredients. If you’re looking for easy vegan treats, which would be perfect to prep for lunchboxes, you can find all her recipes on her blog, although she has just released a book too.
I made her Choco Banana Crumble Sandwich, and despite it not looking as pretty as the one she made, it was a great combo of crunch from the oats, smooth, creamy chocolate and the added banana flavour.
***
How could it be vegan week without some input from Rachel Ama? As well as her Curried Cauliflower, I also made her BALT sandwich, which is smoked aubergine, tomato and lettuce. I loved the smoked aubergine but the tomatoes I’d bought were so bitter, I didn’t really finish it, so it’s a very simple and potentially tasty easy lunch but just make sure you have half-decent veg!
More successful was her Vegan Full English, which I actually made post-vegan week because it appealed to me so much! This is another one of those oxymoronic mini feasts, and the washing up I had to do was mega, but it was worth it. As well as the thinly sliced smoke aubergine, I had avocado, fried plantain, and chilli oyster mushrooms. Not stopping there, she cooks down some tomatoes with spinach for an extra health kick, and my favourite part – the beans on toast. Despite apparently being a bit of a British staple I never eat beans on toast (not that I dislike it), but putting it all together myself made it so much nicer. You top your buttered toast with the tomatoey, spicy haricot beans. This meal will keep you full for a while, whilst giving your body a whole load of nutrients.
Okay, a couple more meals to go, and this one might be my favourite. After the first part of my double shift, I headed to KERB Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden, where Club Mexicana serve up a delicious vegan menu of Mexican street food. I had a Cheezeburger Burrito and Loaded Nachos. Nachos aren’t ever really my favourite to be honest, but I wanted a side dish, and although the tacos looked amazing, I didn’t feel like a taco on the side of a burrito would really work well. The nachos were good, they looked amazingly colourful, and had flavour with a great puffed-up texture to the tortilla chips, but my mind wasn’t blown (nothing against the nachos, like I said, I never really get that excited by them as a dish). The burrito, however, was another story. Lots of places tend to describe certain dishes and flavours as ‘chee[z]eburger’ without much justification, but this burrito honestly tasted like one. The burger mince substitute was delicious, and very convincing, and I could’ve drank burger sauce… This is definitely my top recommendation for this week, whether you’re vegan or not. Ignore how bad the picture is, I was way more bothered about shoving this food in my face than how it was going to look in a photo on my blog a week later.
Okay, last and kind of least (feeling a bit queasy thinking about it), is the Ortolana Pizza from Rossopomodoro. I’d never tried their pizzas at all, let alone the vegan ones, but they seemed to have a few options to choose from. This one was topped with aubergine, capers, spinach, vegan cheese and I can’t remember what else. Actually the base/crust was great, perfect balance of doughy but not too doughy (we only use the official technical terms here), but yeah the toppings made me feel a bit gross afterwards. Maybe it was the lack of tomato sauce, I’m not sure. What this does suggest though, is that Rossopomodoro has the potential to produce a great pizza because they’ve got the base down, but maybe the main non-vegan range is where it’s at.
There we go. 4 weeks down. Next time round I’m gonna head to ByChloe which I have heard wonderful things about, so I cannot wait for that, and you will have to wait slightly longer for my next instalment of fabulous vegan recipe testing, but end of Jan I assure you I will be back here with the lowdown.
If you fancy trying any of the recipes or places mentioned above then it has to be Club Mexicana’s Cheezeburger Burrito, Rachel Ama’s Full English or any of Mrs Hollingsworth’s sweet snacks.
I’m signing off on the vegan adventures for the next month. Until then…
Nadiya Hussain is now often referred to as a national treasure.
Which she is.
But this adopting of her by a whole nation seems to ignore the individual stories of those who have found solace in both her story, and her food.
I watched Bake Off back in 2015, and yes, I was one of those who grew to love her. Endearingly funny without realising it, and completely oblivious to her own talent, we were all rooting for her until the end.
After bake off finished, however, I didn’t think much more of it. I liked her, but I didn’t continue to closely follow her story.
It was just after Christmas last year when I decided to buy her third cookbook, ‘Nadiya’s Family Favourites’. I’m not sure what made me do it – I didn’t own a single recipe book prior to that, and although I often cooked from scratch at home, it was never anything particularly complicated and I certainly hadn’t yet discovered the passion for food that existed somewhere within me.
In the first few months of this year, I tried following a few of her recipes, with varying degrees of success. There were however, occasions where I miraculously ended up with a dish that actually looked half decent. I’d take something out of the oven, and think, ‘I actually made that… and it wasn’t a disaster…’
Ham and Cheese (not crown) Crown
Rhubarb and Ginger Cake
Without really realising it, I was learning a lot and something was stirring inside of me.
It wasn’t until about April when things really changed. Working in a very challenging secondary school environment started to take its toll on me. I had struggled on for 8 months without saying anything, but it began to reach a point where it was obvious something was wrong, and there was nothing I could do to hide it, often finding it near impossible to drag myself out of bed to go to work without becoming hysterical.
Fast forward a few weeks and I eventually conceded that I needed time off, and began to talk about things that had been stuck in my head for as long as I can remember. This, coincidentally, was also the time at which Nadiya released her ‘Anxiety and Me’ documentary.
I didn’t watch it at the time, despite multiple people referencing it in conversation. At that point, I wasn’t prepared to be introduced to someone else’s struggles when I was working my way through a difficult time myself (I have since watched it, and am in awe of her as always).
Having a few months off work wasn’t what I had initially wanted, but I was very productive during that time. I kept active, going to the gym nearly every day, I completed a food journalism course whilst blogging and researching career options that would help to carve out a happier future for me, and I baked. I cooked and I baked and I baked and I cooked.
I remember in those first few days constantly worrying that everytime I posted on Instagram something that I’d made, people would be thinking ‘so she’s not at work but she’s ok enough to post all these photos of food and jolly captions.’
But it wasn’t like that.
As I sort of managed to tell Nadiya at her book signing on Sunday night, through blubbering, hyperventilated breaths, it was my therapy.
I realised that when I was at work in the kitchen, I literally didn’t think about anything else.
I then bought Nadiya’s second cookbook ‘Time to Eat’, and loved this one even more than the first. Her recipes incorporate everything from British comfort food (think baked beans, roast dinners, buttery English muffins and sausage and mash) to plates inspired by her Bangladeshi background (fattoush, chaat, lassi and halva) and then everything in between (enchiladas, pancakes, pizza and pastries).
Those few months were a whirlwind in the kitchen and I made some of the best food I’ve ever attempted.
Something inside me had been ignited, and I put so much of it down to the love of cooking that her recipes produced within me.
I began to write more about food, starting this blog and channelling all of my energy into what that made me happy.
After a pep talk from one of my closest friends, I made the decision to quit my job. It was a risk, as I didn’t have a plan, and for me, not having a plan is terrifying.
The funny thing is, I still don’t have one, the only difference now is that I trust that I’ll get to where I need to be regardless.
Last night (Sunday 1st December) I went to Nadiya’s book tour for her new memoir ‘Finding My Voice’ at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre in London. She spoke openly and eloquently about the many challenges she had faced and overcome, and still is overcoming in her life. Some of them were so far from anything I had ever experienced, and others spoke to me. Some of her fears are my fears, but some of her strengths (without wanting to blow my own trumpet lol) are my strengths.
I was lucky enough to meet her afterwards, but came away feeling like a ginormous idiot, as words failed me, and for reasons I couldn’t really explain at the time I got massively emotional. I actually blame the woman in front of me in the queue who also started to cry so it was her fault for setting the precedent. So yes, this big, long essay here is everything I was trying to explain to her, which just came out in sobs via my ugly crying face.
Who knew cooking and enjoying the incredible recipes that someone else has conjured up could have such an impact on me.
And now I can’t wait to spend every minute of my work shifts reading through the chapters of her life.
Nadiya is brave and inspiring. She’s funny and warm. And I hope that one day when I have children, they have someone like her to look up to.
Fangirling is a bit cringey. But as the title suggests, if you can cry over Beyoncé, I can cry over Nadiya.
……………..
Leaving it on a more light-hearted note, I now have 3 of Nadiya’s 4 recipe books and am gradually working my way through cooking a load of her incredibly diverse food, so just to get you salivating, here are a selection of my favourite and most successful attempts.
Chocolate Caramel Tear ‘n’ Share Soda Bread
Halloumi Fries
PBJ Pancake Traybake
Cayenne Eggs Benedict
Chocolate Lime Roulade
Black Pepper Cake
One Tray Peanut Chicken Gnocchi Bake
Blender Beetroot Pasta
Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha
Beef Burgers
Savoury French Toast
Gingerbread Melt-in-the-Middle with Cardamom Ice Cream
I’ve actually reached the point where vegan week no longer feels like vegan week. I’m not noticing the differences in the food I’m eating anymore, and it doesn’t feel like such a conscious effort to avoid meat/fish/dairy etc.
Despite that it’s still as exciting. I feel lucky that because I love cooking so much I’m more than happy to invest loads of time in trying new plant-based recipes rather than my vegan diet consisting of dull, flavourless frozen packets of things from that supermarket aisle (Linda McCartney chorizo sausages not included in this shade as they are DELICIOUS). But yeah, I can appreciate that for those who don’t have the time or the interest in cooking, a plant-based diet isn’t necessarily as appealing or exciting.
Anyway, there were a whole new load of things I tried in week 3, both things I made at home and places I ate out at, so let’s dive in and take a look.
I started things off by winging it. I’d bought some okra which, when cooked well, is one of my favourite vegetables. I only tried it for the first time when I was living in Brazil and fell in love with the flavour and texture. This curry however, was a bit shit. I think I should’ve had more patience and let it simmer for longer, but also I forgot that I had coconut milk so added vegan yoghurt instead and that just made it too sweet, so I will not be making a note of this recipe lol.
The only other thing I ate recipe-less was a sandwich that I took to work. I used the focaccia I’d made the week before and added some HECK Thai curry vegan sausages along with a chilli tahini and a lil bit of Bombay Mix for the crunch. I actually really enjoyed these sausages, probably a bit more than the last ones I tried which I think were Indian spiced.
The recipes that I followed throughout the week came from my usual favourites, Nadiya Hussain, Ainsley Harriott, Jamie Oliver and Rachel Ama.
One of the first was a spicy parsnip soup from Jamie’s VEG, which so far I’ve been really impressed with. The photo alongside this recipe looked so enticing but I actually found myself disappointed with the result.
Along with okra, parsnips are my other favourite vegetable (are they a vegetable?) but I lost the elements that I loved in this soup. It was less sweet and didn’t have the creamy, roasted texture that I loved. It was quite a chunky soup, whereas I think I prefer them pretty smooth.
I also tried my first recipe from Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen (just from looking at the recipes it’s my favourite cookbook ever…), but unfortunately I started with the wrong one.
I was trying to be reasonably healthy with his Mango, Avocado Brown Rice Salad but I actually had to throw it away. I’m not sure what I did wrong (other than following a recipe with mango and avocado which are two things I don’t really like lol) but there was this weeeeird bitter taste to it and so yep, it all went in the bin. No disrespect to this cookbook though because honestly the recipes look insane.
I brought it right back to the good stuff though with Rachel Ama’s One Pan Breakfast. Basically just tomatoes, spinach, baby potatoes and mushrooms but this was really satisfying. Simple to make and makes you feel pretty healthy, I’ll defo be eating this again.
On the side of that, I made Nadiya Hussain’s Country Beans and whilst there was lots of flavour and they tasted good, I felt that my attempt just looked a bit shit on the plate so I wasn’t massively fussed by this recipe.
A few days later though I persevered with her Turmeric Tomatoes on Avocado Toast and this was a hit. Although I mentioned I don’t really like avocado, I still occasionally cook with it because if it’s surrounded by other flavours and textures that I do like, I don’t mind it too much. The turmeric with the tomatoes was lovely, and again, this is another recipe that made me feel pretty good about what I was putting into my body.
Just a few more recipes to go, and this one’s a breakfast one. I prepped Jamie’s Ripped Smoothie Bowl the night before so I didn’t have to spend ages before work and I really enjoyed it. The vegan yoghurt didn’t taste any different to me to normal yoghurt, although I’ll admit that I much prefer Rachel Ama’s recipe for granola than Jamie’s which he includes for the smoothie bowl topping.
My vegan week came to an end last night with what I again have to admit was a not great meal. I have never tried ackee before, and the scrambled egg appearance tied in with it being described as a ‘fruit’ weirded me out slightly, but I’m open minded and will give any food a shot. The whole recipe was for Smoky Aubergine and Ackee Scramble Bagel and I had that with Nadiya’s Aubergine Pakora with Spicy Ketchup. The smoky aubergine part was okay and I mostly ended up eating this on the bagel, but the ackee didn’t do it for me and I had to bin it which rarely happens 😦
The aubergine pakora was also a fail but I’m pretty sure this must’ve been my fault somehow – the deep frying process just left me with soggy, saturated aubergine that didn’t have any flavour to it, however, I did rate the spicy ketchup.
So my home cooking was a mixed bag this week, some very decent, simple recipes and others that I just wouldn’t bother with again, but I’m still glad I”ve tried new things.
I’ll run through the desserts and sweet treat snacks that I indulged in next. Only one of these I made myself and they were the Lemon and Ginger Oat Balls. I’ve just scoured the Internet and my phone to see who I got this recipe from but I honestly can’t find the exact one. I loved these though, and after my success with Emma (Mrs) Hollingsworth’s peanut butter and chia jam oat balls last month I’ll definitely be making this kind of thing all the time because they taste amazing but are pretty healthy with no refined sugar.
Something that was slightly heavier on the sugar was Doughnut Time’s Good Pie-dings doughnut. It’s part of their Christmas range and is a vegan doughnut stuffed with mince pie filling and topped with cinnamon sugar. It might not look the most appetising but this was so tasty – both the sugary dough and the sweet filling.
As I’ve also spent a fair bit of time working at Winter Wonderland recently I’ve had loads of opportunities to try some amazing food there. I tried Badbrownie’s Salted Caramel Brownie which they have a vegan and non-vegan version of. This was very tasty, although I do prefer an eeeeven gooier brownie (not easy to achieve when it’s this cold outside).
Other Winter Wonderland highlights included the Chickpea Mushroom Curry from Makatcha. This was so full of flavour, I really rated it. Defo want to try their non-vegan options at some point.
Oh My Dog also have a couple of vegan hotdog options and so I tried the Deluxe. It comes with ketchup, mustard, crispy onions and pickles. It was pretty nice and in terms of the hotdog sausage itself I probably wouldn’t even have known that it was vegan.
My final feast at WW came from Fanny’s Kebabs and was probably my favourite. The hummus and pita were okay but nothing exciting, however, the falafel wrap was delicious. There was so much filling packed in and even the fries were impressive. The seasoning on their Persian Fries is amazing, and I love the minty kick that they have.
The only thing left now is my wonderful food from Temple of Seitan, but as I did a review of all that the other day I won’t go into much detail here (you can find it by clicking on the Reviews tab in the menu above). Long story short – get the bbq wings. Amazing.
Highs and lows complete, another plant-based week complete. Like I mentioned before, I don’t even feel like I have to try now, it’s really very easy to eat like this and there is so much that I want to experiment with.
As the weeks have gone by I feel like my vegan week diet has become more varied and is less dependent on just vegetables and beans/pulses – you just have to do a bit of research to see what’s out there and work out what the simplest substitutes are.
Meat Me Halfway: Week 4 will be coming to you a bit sooner next time, as in order to avoid it falling on Christmas (Plant-based Christmas???? I think not), I’ll be doing it a week earlier.
I have a few brunch and street food places that I’m super excited to try and bring to you next time around so you can look forward to that in a few weeks’ time.
Hello. I currently feel like a big bag of poo and can barely
motivate myself to write, but if I continue to lie here watching Netflix all
afternoon/evening hoping my illness will disappear I am going to go mad. If the
poo reference hasn’t put you off, please continue to read.
This is the second post in my ‘ultimate’ series, bringing
you my top recommendations. This time things are a little bit different – we’re
not talking dining out, but rather cooking at home.
Home cooking can be daunting – potentially time-consuming,
requiring a load of obscure ingredients, and with a risk that it might not go
to plan at all. But don’t let that put you off! It can also be massively
rewarding, and I’m giving you a head start in providing a solid set of recipes
that have worked a treat for me, leaving you with delicious and creative meals
to dish up to your friends and family.
Just a little note on the ‘Effort Level’ section. This is
based more so on how long it takes to make and many elements and/or techniques
are involved. Just because something is high in effort, it doesn’t necessarily
mean it’s difficult to make, only that you might need a bit more patience!
We’ll start with my favourite breakfast and brunch recipes…
7. Cauliflower Hash
and Eggs
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in ‘Time to Eat’
Effort level: Medium
Dietary info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)
This one was a big surprise for me. I find it quite difficult to make something cauliflower-based that I enjoy, but this grated cauliflower hash was actually so tasty, what with all the flavour from the chilli and chives. The fried egg isn’t supposed to leak like this but overall I think my attempt looks pretty impressive, so if you want something filling and can be bothered to go wild with a grater then defo have a go at this.
6. Granola
Recipe by: Rachel Ama in ‘Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats’
Effort level: Easy
Dietary info: Vegan (contains nuts)
You might find yourself thinking, ‘why would I make granola when I can just buy it?’ But personally I found it really satisfying knowing exactly what had gone into it. You can customise with any additional dried fruits etc, and I also enjoyed junking it up a bit by adding the vegan cookie dough from Doughnut Time’s Ice Ice Bae Bae doughnut in there too.
Sometimes I’m in the mood for a savoury pancake more so than sweet. This one was more like the size of a crepe but with the density of an american pancake and so one was plenty enough for lunch. Again, you can customise the toppings, so along with the chorizo and spring onion, I had some manchego that needed using up so I dropped that into the batter as it was cooking so that it melted into the pancake. Only downside then is that when you flip the pancake the melted cheese sort of sticks to the bottom of the pan. But it still worked and most of it stayed within the pancake.
4. Sweet Potato Cakes
with Poached Eggs
Recipe by Kyle Boyce (London Grind), available from BBC Good
Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Vegetarian (contains eggs)
Like with the Cauliflower Hash, this one is slightly more effort just because of all the gratey-gratey but it is worth those extra few minutes of prep time. The result ends up being a crunchy delight, topped with a (hopefully) gooey-yolked poached egg. Bursting with flavour.
3. Sausage and Egg
Bap with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Recipe by: BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains pork, eggs
One of my absolute favourites. I actually attempted to make the white baps as well but I won’t necessary include that in my analysis of the recipe as they were way too stodgy and hard, but following the recipe and using shop-bought rolls would work perfectly. The sausage patty was delicious, my fried egg perched beautifully on top, and the spicy tomato sauce brought everything together. This is very easy to make, I’ve just given it a medium effort level due to the different aspects that you have to work on separately. You could go wild and add bacon too for the Full English experience.
2. Cinnamon French
Toast Drizzled in Chocolate
Recipe by: Rachel Ama in Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats
Effort Level: Easy/Medium
Dietary Info: VEGAN!!
Vegan French toast is the most exciting discovery I have made recently. I won’t spend too long talking about this one as I mentioned it in my last post (Meat Me Halfway: Week 2). You do not need eggs at all to create the mixture to coat your bread, and this one was really delicious, although I fucked up the chocolate a bit and it wasn’t supposed to be quite so runny.
1.Semolina Halva with Cheat’s Paratha
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains ghee, nuts
This is my ultimate breakfast/brunch recipe. Well, not my recipe sadly, but my favourite recipe to follow. I had no idea what this even was when I got this recipe book but thought I’d be a bit adventurous and try it out anyway. I perhaps wasn’t as open-minded back then because I wasn’t massively optimistic about liking it. But let me tell you, this is beautiful. The buttery, orange flavour with the crunch of the nuts and slight sweetness from the dried fruit; not to mention the ‘parathas’, which in this case are literally just balls of puff pastry rolled and flat and dry-fried. They end up warm and slightly spongy, and then you can pile the semolina on top, or even indulge in them taco-style if you’re an animal like me.
Next up let’s have a look at lunch and dinner. I split up the categories in this way because I couldn’t decide what exactly constitutes lunch, and what would be classed more as dinner, so this seemed more logical.
15. Butternut Pasta
Soup
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain, in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Vegan
I never used to be a fan of soup, not really classing it as a proper meal but I’ve made some really tasty ones in the past year or so. I’m always in two minds about these kinds of ‘pasta’ soups. I’ve tried a few and for me personally I don’t think the orzo or whatever pasta shape it is enhances the dish in anyway – I either want pasta or soup, not an odd combination of the two. But whether you add the orzo or not, this is a delicious soup, managing to be super creamy without the addition of cream itself. The chipotle flakes add a warming kick, making it perfect for these long winter nights.
14. Canneloni Filled
with Spinach and Ricotta
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
Making your own pasta is a bit of a ballache but it is really rewarding, knowing you’ve made every element of the dish yourself. It’s not actually difficult, mainly just mixing your egg and flour to make the dough but then obviously it does require a pasta machine to create the sheets (they’re not particularly expensive). The béchamel with the passata, and ricotta filling makes this stuffed pasta dish super indulgent but the flavours go way beyond tomato and cheese.
13. Blender Beetroot
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
This is honestly one of the quickest and easiest things to make, requiring so few ingredients. Once the beetroot has been blended, your sauce is sorted. When added to the pasta, everything turns a beautiful deep purply pink. Top that off with feta and dill and you’re good to go.
12. Bhel Puri Salad
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Vegan
Salads are generally dead. So uninspiring, leaf upon leaf of bland rabbit-food textures. HOWEVER, just look at this one. I was shocked. This salad is so delicious, and yes that’s partly because instead of leaves there are poppadoms and Bombay Mix but it’s still mostly comprised of radish, tomato and onion so is still pretty healthy. I loved the crunch, it was incredibly refreshing and so vibrant with all the colours.
11. One Tray Peanut
Chicken
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time To Eat
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains nuts, meat
One that worked a treat for my packed lunches at work, just
as tasty cold. The combination of the peanut butter with the thai green curry
paste is delicious, and the broccoli, gnocchi and chicken make a really
interesting combination. It’s not difficult to make as you can just chuck
everything in a baking dish together but it does require a fair few
ingredients.
10. Amazing Tomato
Curry
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts
I made this just last night, using a load of cherry tomatoes rather than larger whole tomatoes as recommended. This is super creamy, and one of my favourite things is the interesting addition of mango chutney to the actual curry towards the end of its cooking time. This adds a lovely sweetness that is normally reserved for dipping. Serve with rice (or as I did, Nadiya Hussain’s Masala Eggy Bread).
9. Shell Pasta with
Prawns and Saffron
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, dairy
A deliciously creamy-below-the-surface béchamel pasta, with
a crispy top after being grilled before serving. Always slightly more effort to
make a béchamel sauce rather than using a tinned tomato sauce or jarred pesto,
but worth it ultimately, and the fact that this is pretty quick to make overall
compensates for this tiny bit of effort.
8. Rigatoni with Soft
Cheese and Pecorino Sardo
Recipe by: Gino D’Acampo in Gino’s Pasta
Effort Level: Easy AF
Dietary Info: Vegetarian, contains dairy
Another Gino one right here, and one that I avoided making
for ages because there was no photo in the book (anyone else also tend to
neglect these recipes??) but when I eventually got round to it, it tasted
beautiful despite being so so simple. Again, it’s super creamy, but without
having to make a béchamel – this one is just butter, cream cheese and milk.
Ironically I don’t have a photo of my finished thing either, probably because
it looked so uninspiring with no colourful elements to brighten it up, but
trust me when I say the flavour was surprisingly good.
7. Samosa Pie
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: High
Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs
When this recipe actually worked out for me I was over the moon. Anything that involved me making my own pastry from scratch, I was sure would be a complete disaster but just look at it! The hot water pastry was actually very simple to make, and the samosa filling tasted so authentic. 100% recommend this recipe if you’ve got a load of people to impress!
6. Green Spinach and
Lemon Risotto with Crispy Prosciutto
Recipe by: Rosie Birkett via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains pork, dairy
Risotto is slightly more time-consuming to make, constantly topping up the stock until the rice is plumped up and creamy, but this recipe is worth it. The blended spinach gives it a beautiful colour and the crispy prosciutto on top adds some variation texture-wise.
5. Stuffed Curried
Aubergines
Recipe by: Jamie Oliver in VEG
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Vegan, contains nuts
Aubergines can be dry and tasteless if you don’t cook them well, but add a delicious curry paste with a whole load of spices, sandwich it inside the aubergine and roast, and you end up with a soft, creamy, dreamy vegetable. I paired this curry with Rachel Ama’s coconut rice rather than plain boiled.
4. Prawn and Salmon
Burgers with Spicy Mayo
Recipe by: Elena Silcock via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains shellfish, eggs
The first time I had a salmon burger was at an amazing restaurant in Lisbon, and for some reason, I remember wondering how on earth they made them, as if making a burger out of fish would be the most complex thing in the world. It’s actually not. This burger has so much flavour, the spicy mayo is a beautiful addition, and providing you’re not attempting the buns yourself, is actually pretty straightforward to make.
Cooking whole joints of meat can be quite daunting. I’ve only started trying it recently, and I have had a couple of disasters. But this lamb turned out beautifully – tender and almost creamy, and the pesto sauce is something different to traditional roast lamb with just a blob of mint sauce on the side. You’ll have to excuse the odd combination of sides on the plate below – I wouldn’t serve this odd combo up to anyone else but I was just trying a few recipes at the same time. I froze the leftover lamb and had it in a few other meals later down the line, including Greek Lamb with Orzo, and a Harissa Lamb Pie and the meat was still delicious in both.
2. Beef Burgers with Bacon Jam
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: All the meat, plus eggs
Another burger recipe here, and one that I adored. I used blue cheese instead of whatever cheese was in the recipe but other than that I think I followed it pretty accurately. I’ve come to love the idea of a fried egg to top a burger, and the bacon jam was also super tasty, despite my scepticism reading the instruction to add coffee powder…
1.Meatloaf Roll
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time
to Eat
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Contains meat, eggs
So this is it. One of my absolute favourite lunch/dinner recipes. I’ve made this a couple of times now and anyone who’s tried it has really enjoyed it. It is slightly more effort what with all the elements you have to combine, but at least there’s no expectation for you to make your own puff pastry. Fuck that. Also, any marmite haters should ignore the fact that diluted marmite coats the pastry in between the crust and the sausage meat centre, because I don’t like marmite, but actually the very tiny amount adds a deliciously subtle sweetness when you bite into it. The eggs lined up in the centre make for a super satisfying sight when you cut through the roll. Such an interesting meal, and one that won’t disappoint on flavours.
Exciting section coming up. This one is all about the desserts (dancing lady emoji). So there are actually only 3 in this section, and they are all Nadiya recipes, in case you hadn’t already noticed how much I love her.
3.Gingerbread Melt in the Middles
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy
In third place, we have these little gingerbread cookie cups filled with a melted chocolate centre. This is another recipe that didn’t come with a picture, and when I started trying it I don’t think I’d actually read the recipe through beforehand so didn’t really have any idea what I was making. These turned out such a treat though. Cooked through, the biscuit cup is buttery and delicious and then cutting into it, the melted chocolate centre oozes out. I served this with Nadiya’s Cardamom Ice Cream that she makes alongside her Banana Tarte Tatin (a recipe that actually failed for me lol).
2. Burnt Almond Butter Fudge
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy and nuts
I’d never realised fudge was this straightforward to make. It is slightly disconcerting when you realise as you’re making it that it’s pretty much pure sugar, but the flavour is stunning. This one had the most incredible smooth, creamy texture. I’m never a fan of the kind of fudge you have to sort of scrape bits off with your teeth rather than being able to bite straight into it (reminds me particularly of shitty cinema pick & mix fudge…). The almond flavour was lovely, and it’s given me the confidence to try making my own flavour variations of fudge using this recipe as the base.
1.Choco Lime Roulade
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Time to Eat
Effort Level: Medium/High
Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs
This is my favourite dessert recipe. Often my favourite recipes end up being unexpected ones, or basically the ones that I think are going to be a disaster, and actually turn out to be pretty impressive. I 100% assumed this sponge would break up as soon as I rolled it, but it didn’t at all. I found the chocolate/lime flavour combination really interesting and unusual and I would definitely serve this up to guests again!
We’re nearing the end and it’s my final section – snacks and sides. Either dishes that you could eat alone when you’re peckish mid-afternoon, or that you could combine with the above recipes.
4. Banana Honey and Hazelnut Smoothie
Recipe by: BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Low
Dietary Info: Contains nuts, dairy
In fourth place is actually a drink/smoothie, but one that is a great breakfast addition. The honey stops the banana flavour from being overwhelming and the little chopped hazelnuts on top add a lovely little crunch. You could always use soy milk as I did to make it dairy-free.
3. Chunky Halloumi
Chips
Recipe by: Nadiya Hussain in Nadiya’s Family Favourites
Effort Level: Low/Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy, eggs
Who doesn’t love halloumi. Especially halloumi that’s fried. These squeaky cheese chips are delicious, with the saltiness of the halloumi and the added chilli and za’atar for a spike of flavour. If you want to be particularly indulgent, wrap these in prosciutto before frying.
2. Naan Bread
Recipe by: Miriam Nice via BBC Good Food
Effort Level: Medium
Dietary Info: Contains dairy
Another recipe where the result shocked me. I couldn’t believe how perfect this naan was. From the teardrop shape, to the soft, spongy texture, to the pronounced flavour from the Nigella seeds. Despite learning in India that this kind of naan we’re used to having here doesn’t actually exist there (no teardrop shape, more just like a big, circular, flat and less spongy flatbread), this still was incredibly satisfying to produce and looked shop-bought in a good way. Dipping this into my soups and curries was heavenly. Also freezes well.
So I already raved about these in my last vegan blog so I don’t want to repeat myself other than saying these were insanely delicious. You don’t have to make the chia jam yourself if that’s too much effort, using shop bought is fine. Head to the website in the link above for a huge number of other variations of these little energy balls, all of which I want to get round to trying at some point!
And there’s my full round-up of the best recipes I’ve tried
in the past year or so. The above have all produced fantastic results for me so
I definitely recommend trying some of them out. I think the majority of them
can be found online, although it’s always worth investing in a few solid recipe
books if you’re looking for inspiration.
If you end up trying any of these, I’d love to see the
results, so tag me on Instagram @foodtravelsldn so I can check them out!
¡Comemos! 