Cheap, simple, nutritious. Use this to make a spag bol, lasagne, a base for chilli or cottage pie.
Serves 6 – it’s worth making in this quantity to freeze if not needed in one sitting.
Ingredients
3 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
3 celery sticks, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
500g bag dried red lentils
2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 tsp each dried oregano and thyme
3 bay leaves
1l vegetable stock
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Cook gently for 15-20 mins until everything is softened. Stir in the lentils, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, herbs and stock. Bring to a simmer, then cook for 40-50 mins until the lentils are tender and saucy – splash in water if you need. Season.
Serve immediately. Alternatively, cool the sauce and chill for up to 3 days. Or freeze for up to 3 months. Simply defrost portions overnight at room temperature, then reheat gently to serve.
Clementine and Almond Cake
This is a Nigella recipe, I’m often sceptical about cooks who declare that, “This is the easiest cake ever.” In this case, though, she’s right. Thanks Nigella!
Ingredients
Approx 375g clementines (I used 5)
250g ground almonds
225g sugar
6 eggs
Method
Preheat the oven to Gas 5
Prick the clementines all over. Place in a microwave bowl and half fill with water. Microwave on full power until the clementines have softened. This will vary depending on your microwave – mine took about 4 minutes.
Drain the clementines and set aside to cool.
Once cool, place the clementines (whole, skin and all) in a food processor and blitz until smoothish.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs lightly, add the sugar, ground almonds and finally, the clementine puree.
Pour the mixture into an 8″ greased and lined springform pan (I use cake liners from the pound shop!) and bake for approx 1hr.
Check after 40 minutes, and cover the cake with tin foil if it is starting to brown too much – I didn’t have any foil, so i used a metal casserole lid, which worked just as well.
Once the cake is cooked, remove from the oven, and allow to cool completely in the tin.
This is a “damp” cake, so you will need to keep it refrigerated. It will keep for3 or 4 days (if it lasts that long!)
It’s Not Easy Being Green
Ingredients
1 apple
1 kiwi
1 handful frozen spinach
1 slice melon
5cm chunk of cucumber
1 pear
2cm chunk of ginger
1 cup water
Method
Put all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour over ice to serve.
Green Smoothie
Ingredients
2 cups fresh spinach
2 cups water or dairy free ‘milk’
1/4 medium pineapple
1 mango
1 frozen banana (chopped into chunks)
Method
Blend the spinach and water/ milk until smooth. Add the other ingredients and blend until smooth.
Quick-Pickled Cucumbers with Rice Vinegar
Ingredients
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
4 cups thinly sliced Japanese or English cucumbers (about 3 Japanese or 1 English)
Method
Combine vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat. Add cucumber slices and stir. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or a double layer of heavy duty paper towels, pressing down until towel is saturated with liquid and in direct contact with the cucumbers. Let rest 10 minutes, then transfer cucumbers to a sealable container. Top up with liquid and discard the rest. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
From http://www.seriouseats.com/
Coconut Ice Smoothie
Serves 2
1 frozen banana
1 handful frozen raspberries
1 dessert spoon coconut oil
500ml milk
Pop all the ingredients in a blender, and whizz until smooth. This tastes like summer holidays at the seaside; delicious!
This is also delicious with almond milk.
Vegetable Layer Bake (serves 6)
Thinly sliced potatoes (2 large)
2 onions (sliced)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
4 mushrooms (sliced)
1 400g tin butter beans (rinsed)
100g frozen sweetcorn
100g brown lentils
Enough gluten free vegetable stock to cover
A knob of butter
Mixed herbs
Black pepper
Preheat the oven to Gas 3
Prepare all the vegetables.
Layer up the ingredients in a large casserole in this order:
1/3 of the potatoes
½ of the onion
½ the mushrooms
½ tin butter beans
½ the sweetcorn
½ the lentils
Mixed herbs and black pepper
Repeat, and finish with a final layer of potato.
Add enough stock to cover, pop on a lid and place in a preheated oven (gas 3 ) for 1 hour.
Take off lid and bake for a further ½ hr.
*You can make this dish vegan by leaving out the butter*
Make room for the mushrooms
Bean and Mushroom Paté
Serves 6
Ingredients
150g mushrooms finely chopped
2 fat cloves garlic
50g butter
1 x 400g tin of rosecco beans (or butter beans) drained and rinsed
1 tsp mixed herbs
Splash of balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
This couldn’t be easier. Finely chop the mushrooms. Add to a large pan with the butter (medium heat). Try to resist the urge to stir for a couple of minutes. Then add the garlic, cook for a couple more minutes (you can stir now!). Finally, add the herbs, balsamic and beans and mash thoroughly until the ingredients form a paste. Season to taste and pop in individual ramekins. Allow to cool before putting in the fridge. Eat with gluten-free toast or oatcakes.
