Category: Main Course

Black Wild Rice, Cherry, and Rocket Salad

Black Wild Rice, Cherry, and Rocket Salad

Recently I’ve decided to try going on a detox again and this time I’m really going to try to get into the habit of healthy eating. I’ve said this before, however at the moment I’m not going away in the near future, I’m not being catered for and I’m free to really focus on what I’m eating, so I’m determined to make this work. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit and 90 days to make a lifestyle, so that’s what I’m aiming for! As of yet it’s going really well: I’ve started thinking out of the box and I’m now getting into the habit of making things that will nourish my body but also taste great. I am craving cake and would like nothing more than to make some danish pastries right now, but I’m standing strong and I’m hopeful that this time I won’t crack.  Something I experimented with the other day was this wild rice and cherry salad and I was chuffed with how well it worked. Delicious, filling and super quick to throw together!

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 100g Black wild rice
  • Roughly 8 Fresh cherries
  • 4 tbsp Puy lentils
  • 50g Feta cheese
  • A handful of Rocket

Method

  1. Fill a medium sized pan half way full with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add the rice. Stir once and then leave on a gentle simmer until soft to preference.
  2. Meanwhile, halve and de-stone the cherries and leave to one side for now.
  3. Then put the puy lentils into a medium sized bowl and microwave for 20 seconds to gently warm through.
  4. Drain the rice and then add it to the bowl with the lentils. Stir gently to combine.
  5. Portion the rice out between your two plates. Arrange the halved cherries on top and then scatter over chunks of the feta cheese. Finish with a sprinkling of rocket leaves.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Easy Spaghetti Bolognese

Easy Spaghetti Bolognese

Hello I’m back! It’s been a little while since I last posted anything as I’ve just been through exam season – but now I’m on the other side and ready to start bringing back the recipes. I thought I’d start this new season not with something particularly summer-y (have you seen the weather this past week!) but rather with a full-proof comfort food staple that everyone should know how to make.  A bolognese is such a versatile warming sauce – you can have it with baked potatoes, rice, or pasta, spicy or not spicy, and with any extra veg you want. It’s also easy to make in batches and freeze so it’s the perfect student food for busy times like exam season.

Another reason why I wanted to bring out pasta in this post is because at the end of the month I’ll be off to Italy for several weeks with some friends (yey!) and so I’m gearing myself up for mountains of pasta, pizza, tiramisu and gelato! When over there I’ll be soaking up the culture and art, but first and foremost I’ll be trying to sample as much of the local cuisines as possible so if you have any recommendations for places to go in Rome, Florence and Venice please drop it in the comment box at the end of this post!

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the Bolognese

  • 1 White onion
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 Clove of garlic
  • 2 Carrots
  • 8 Chestnut mushrooms (optional)
  • 400g Minced beef
  • 500g Passata
  • 500ml Beef stock (1 stock cube dissolved in 500ml boiling water)
  • 1 tsp Mixed herbs

To serve

  • Pasta for 4 ( I went for fresh tagliatelle)
  • 100g Cheddar cheese
  • A few leaves of fresh Basil

Method

  1. Chop the top and bottom off the onion. Then peel off the skin and finely chop. Put the oil into a large pan and place it over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and gently fry for 4-5 minutes until just starting to caramelise.
  2. Meanwhile prep the rest of the veg. Chop the ends off the garlic clove and the carrots. Then peel both. Crush the garlic and set to one side. Then quarter the carrots length-ways and chop into small chunks.
  3. Add the garlic and the carrots to the onions once they’re just starting to colour and fry for 2-3 minutes.
  4. Halve and then roughly chop the mushrooms and then add them to the pan. Fry for another minute and then tip everything into a bowl.
  5. Add the mince into the same pan as what you cooked the veg in. Fry over a medium heat until the meat is browned all over. Add the vegetables back into the pan and then add the passata, beef stock and mixed herbs. Reduce the heat and leave to gently simmer until reduced and rich in flavour (around 25 minutes).
  6. Meanwhile boil the pasta in a pan of boiling the water according to the packet’s instructions.
  7. Season the bolognese with salt and pepper to taste. Drain the pasta and distribute it between your serving dishes. Top with spoonfuls of the bolognese, some grated cheese and fresh basil!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Falafel Salad

Falafel Salad

Oki so I have exams next week and needless to say I’m stressing like crazy so I’m going to keep things simple this week. Say hello to falafel salad…

Recipe

Serves 1

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 Falafel
  • 1 tbsp Pine nuts
  • A handful of Cherry tomatoes
  • A handful of Mixed salad leaves
  • Hummus to serve

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Put the falafel into a small roasting tin and warm in the oven for about 5 minutes (or to packet instructions). Add the pine nuts to the tin 1 minute before they come out.
  2. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Arrange some salad leaves into a bowl and then scatter over the tomato quarters.
  3. Arrange the falafel around the plate, sprinkle over the pine nuts and then serve with hummus!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Oven Baked Arancini with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Oven Baked Arancini with a Spicy Tomato Sauce

I kid you not when I say that this is the most delicious savoury thing I’ve ever made. I’m a sucker for Italian food in general so maybe I’m biased but these Italian crispy risotto balls are out of this world – try them yourself and you will not be disappointed! Combine a rich, tomato-y squidgy rice ball, coated in crispy bread crumbs and stuffed with oozying mozerella, with a side of a sweet, sour, spicy tomato sauce and bam, you’ve got one hell of a starter/maincourse/snack thing. Arancini are traditionally deep fried, but as I don’t have a deep fat fryer I decided to try oven-baking them and I think it worked out really well. You still get the crispy, crunchy outside to the arancini but without the added calories and grease of deep-fat frying.

On another exciting note I’m officially going to Italy this summer on an inter-railing trip with some friends. We’ll be starting in Rome and will wind our way north, soaking up the beauty and of course trying all the food we can on the way! Needless to say I’m more than a little excited at the prospect of pizza, pasta, risotto, tiramisu, and mountains of gelato so I’ll come back with lots of Mediterranean inspiration for future recipes. If you have any recommendations for foods to try/places to stop off please ping them my way!

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 90 minutes

Ingredients

  • 600ml Vegetable stock (or 1 vegetable stock cube in 600ml water)
  • 50g Unsalted butter
  • ½ Large white onion, diced
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 200g Arborio rice
  • 260ml Bolognese sauce
  • ½ tbsp Garlic puree
  • 50g Parmesan, grated
  • 80g Mozzarella, torn in chunks
  • 2 Egg whites
  • 100g Bread crumbs

For the sauce

  • ½ Large white onion
  • 1 tsp Olive oil
  • 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp Smoked paprika
  • 75ml Balsamic vinegar
  • 20g Caster sugar
  • 1.2kg Chopped tomatoes
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • ½ tsp Thyme
  • ½ tbsp Garlic puree

Method

  1. In a large pan bring the vegetable stock to the boil and leave to simmer until needed.
  2. Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat and then add the bay leaves and diced onions. Fry the onions until they just begin to caramelise, then season with a little salt and pepper.
  3. Add the rice to this pan and cook whilst stirring for around 2 minutes.
  4. Slowly add the stock to the rice, one ladle full at a time, constantly stirring as you do. Keep doing this until the rice is sticky and just overcooked.
  5. Then add the Bolognese sauce to the rice and mix it in. Remove the pan from the heat and set to one side until needed.
  6. Stir the garlic, parmesan and mozzarella into the risotto and then take the bay leaves out of the mixture. Taste to check the seasoning and then pour the mixture into a large tray and leave to cool.
  7. Break the egg whites into a bowl and beat a little with a fork to make it runny. Then pour the breadcrumbs into a separate bowl. Shape the rissotto mixture into small balls – about 1 heaped tbsp for each one. Dip each ball into the egg whites and then the breadcrumbs, making sure they are coated fully and then put them on a tray in the fridge until needed.
  8. Now make the tomato sauce. Peel and then dice the onions. Add them to a pan with the olive oil and fry until caramelised.
  9. Add the pepper and paprika to the mixture and stir. Add the balsamic and sugar and stir them in. Then leave to reduce for a couple of minutes.
  10. Add the chopped tomatoes, bay leaves, thyme, and garlic puree to the mixture and stir. Then leave to simmer for a couple of hours until reduced and thick. (You could boil it for less time but you get the best flavour if you leave it to properly reduce).
  11. Once the sauce is almost ready pre-heat the oven to 180C. Place the arancini on a lined baking tray and bake them in the oven for around 20 minutes until crisp, golden brown and so that the cheese is bubbling.
  12. Taste the sauce again and season to taste before serving with the arancini balls.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Bacon and Leak Hash with Eggs and Beans

Bacon and Leak Hash with Eggs and Beans

Did someone say brunch? Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, even on holiday things can be a little crazy. There’s a saying at Oxford that holidays (or ‘vacations’) are not times to stop working and relax but rather times when you just ‘vacate’ Oxford and go and work somewhere else. So much for rest and recuperation eh! At least my degree is basically what I do for fun anyway, so I get to spend my days drawing, cooking and planning various drama projects I’ve got lined up for next term.

So, back to brunch. When you’ve not got a lot of time on your hands what’s better than to combine two meals into one and have a hippy, hearty, filling bowl of comforting deliciousness? Since coming home I’ve basically stopped having breakfasts at all and I really miss starting the day with a hot plate of fried up morsels, so the other I decided to get off my arse and actually make myself a cooked breakfast. This bacon and leek hash might seem like a bit of a paph – especially when you can just fry up some bacon and have it with potato smiley faces from the freezer (and why not – they’re so good!) – but trust me, if you want a fancied-up snazzy brunch try adding it to your classic eggs and beans and you won’t regret it!

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 300g Potatoes (about 2 medium)
  • 1 Leek, trimmed, washed and sliced
  • 3 Rasher of bacon
  • A sprinkling of Paprika
  • 100g Cheddar cheese, grated
  • 4 Eggs
  • 1 Large tin of baked beans to serve (optional)

Method

  1. Wash and chop the potatoes into small chunks. Then bring a pan of water to the boil and boil the potatoes for around 5 minutes until just cooked through. Drain and leave to steam-dry.
  2. Take a large frying pan and put it over a medium heat. Add the bacon rashers (as many as will cover the base of the pan at any one time) and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until crispy and golden brown. Transfer the cooked bacon to a plate and repeat with the rest of the bacon until all the rashers are done. Leave until needed.
  3. Wash the leek and then cut the ends off it (top and tail). Half lengthways and then finely slice. Add the leek to the pan the bacon was cooked in and fry for 5-10 minutes until soft and starting to caramelise.
  4. Cut the bacon up with a pair of scissors to make small pieces and then add it to the leeks. Add the drained potato and paprika and mix together.
  5. Transfer the hash mixture to a small roasting tin and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and crispy. If using cheese sprinkle a little of it over the top of the hash 5 minutes before coming out of the oven.
  6. Meanwhile prep the eggs. Spray a little oil into the pan you cooked the bacon in to add a little more grease. Then crack the eggs into the pan and leave to fry until the whites are opaque. Using a fish slice transfer them to a couple of plates.
  7. Whilst the eggs are cooking heat the beans in a pan or in a microwave until piping hot. Serve with the eggs and the hash!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x