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Still BBQing a lot. This was some 98% meat sausages on the grill and very nice they were. It does seem, looking back, that we have green beans with every meal, but we don’t. As for green veg we usually have spinach, green beans, broccoli, asparagus when in season, and zucchini (courgettes) which I like best sliced and sautéed in a knob of butter till they go a bit brown and slightly crunchy on the surface.
For our beans on the side, my go-to options are white beans (butter beans or cannelli) mashed with a wand blender and whatever cooking liquid there is to make white bean mash, any beans stirred into a soup or stew, or a variation of this, which is
1 can lentils (puy, usually, because they don’t go to mush)
small handful of bacon lardons (1/2 a normal pack or one of the small double packs from Sainsburys – pancetta or chopped streaky bacon works too)
a few green onions chopped or a 1/2 a leek
a dollop of Dijon mustard
pepper and salt if you feel it needs it
and sometimes a tablespoon of cream
I just fry the lardons till crispy, saute the onions or leeks in the oil from the lardons, dump in the drained and rinsed can of beans, heat gently for a few minutes, then stir in the mustard and cream (and you can mix them together first in a small bowl just to make sure it gets evenly distributed) If you have some or a way to make a small portion of chicken stock (like the liquid broth concentrate) a 1/4 cup of that works too, but I wouldn’t make a whole cup just to add such a small amount to this!)
I am all about the cooking, usually, and try not to use a lot of pre-prepared stuff (although I do use a LOT of quick items like squeezy garlic and ginger!) but sometimes it’s all about the fast!
I don’t think DH has any idea how easy this one was – but he’ll know now.
Marinate the pork chops in an olive oil salad dressing. One with no added sugar. Just read the label and pick one you like. OR make a home made marinade like the rosemary and garlic with lemon. So long as it has some olive oil, some vinegar/citrus (lemon or lime juice is good with chicken, pork or fish, balsamic or plain old red wine vinegar is good with beef) and some herbs (I particularly like thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary or basil) and maybe garlic, it’ll work.
BBQ
Easy Peasy. I use the leftover marinade added to the Puy Lentils – so long as you cook them yo can tip in the marinade from the bag to flavour them, but make sure you heat them long enough, and a high enough temperature to kill any unfriendly bacteria. 10 minutes should do it on a medium heat, till the marinade boils.
A nice summer side is braised lettuce and peas.
I do this one quick:
roughly chop 4 baby gem lettuce heads, removing the tough stalk part
thaw a couple of cups of frozen peas
Saute some chopped onion, red onion, or leeks in butter
add the peas and a minute or two later, the lettuce.
salt and pepper well.
Serve it up!
I know I have not een adding recipes very often at the moment but we are keeping to the diet (more or less – a few cheats when we are out and about, like lunch at Jamie’s Italian on Bank Holiday Monday in Oxford – tsk, tsk) and doing a LOT of simple BBQ. Mostly a variation on this sort of dish – marinated meat, beans, veg. It’s all easy, and not really much to share. When summer hits fully I have a few salad-type dishes I’ll share but at the moment it’s all too simple to bore you with!
Lots of BBQ, so nothing really worth sharing last week, although I did do this side dish which went very well with some italian-style sausages done out on the grill. More of a method than an actual recipe.
peppers – we like the long red spanish peppers
onions – red and white
olive oil
salt and freshly ground mixed peppercorns
Chop the peppers and onions (I used 4 long red peppers, one large white onion and one red onion) and toss with a tablespoon or two of really nice olive oil. Salt and pepper and roast in the oven at 200C for about 30 minutes. You want the edges of the veg to go a bit charred.
Open, drain and rinse a can of Puy Lentils. toss them with the veg and pop it back in the oven for about 10 minutes, just to heat the beans thru and char the veg that tossing has exposed.
Lots of variations – immediate possibilities include some chili peppers, sliced fine, some fresh chopped basil, or cherry tomatoes. All good. This makes a great accompaniment to any grilled meat. You can also grill the peppers and onions then slice them and toss with a little more olive oil and mix in lentils you have heated in a skillet, if you prefer not to heat up the kitchen.
More BBQ this week, I’m sure.
Although I started this blog because I was not happy with simply dumping a can of this and defrosting a pellet of that to make my meals, and not in a position to eat out two meals a day, and while I do like cooking some days, many days it’s all about how fast I can get to “dinner on the table” from raw ingredients in the fridge. And I am not a food snob at all – I am happy to make use of pre-made or pre-prepared stuff, like garlic paste or ginger, squeezy tubes of lemon grass, and dried herb mixes if the taste is good at the end and I can get there faster.
My fall-back marinade for almost any meat is lemon juice, olive oil, garlic salt, pepper, and some fresh herbs (thyme because I love the smell and the taste is a fave, and rosemary because we have a HUGE rosemary bush it back so its on hand all year) but I do like to mix things up (lime juice instead of lemon, white balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar instead of lemon with beef, etc) Looking for some inspiration in the spice cabinet I found an ASDA Garlic and Lemon Herb Grinder. It has all the named item plus fennel seeds, basil, mint, dried green olives, parsley, green peppercorns lemon myrtle, and toasted dried onions! Yowza.
In a bowl:
1- 2 tbls of the grinder contents
2 tbls of olive oil
the juice of a lemon
Into a Zip-lock bag. Add chicken breasts – we did six – and in the fridge for a couple of hours and BBQ
You CAN always do what it says and simply oil the chicken then grind over the mixture, but I think making the marinade deepens the flavour.
On the side I did leeks and peas, sautéed in ghee with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end and some black lentils (pre-cooked bag) sautéed with a few grinds of the same spice mix, a splash of oil, and half a chopped red onion. The flavour of the chicken was wonderful, and it with the two sides made for a great meal. The herb mix isn’t the sort of mix I would make from scratch (even if I could get lemon myrtle easily) but it worked a treat for this. A single grinder would get be at least 4 -6 marinades.
I do know I will be looking at some of the pre-made spice and herb grinders in a new way after this. It was a fab way to add a real flavour kick with minimal effort.
I had a couple of cans of adzuki beans but was a bit loathe to use them. The last time DH ate them he felt they were a bit flavorless. Also, internet research tells me the adzuki beans are used in Japanese sweets, and I wasn’t sure if they might be too sweet.
So here’s what I did:
2 cans of adzuki beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup chopped red and yellow bell peppers
6 green onions, chopped
1 large carrot, grated
Toss all this in a bowl and dress with:
In a lidded jar, add
3 tbls walnut oil
1 tbls red wine wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
fresh ground mixed peppercorns
1 teaspoon salt
Shake to emulsify and pour over the salad. Into the fridge to let the flavours meld.
Fab with any leftover BBQ or just over some fresh spinach leaves.
We tend to eat spinach simply prepared, just wilted in oil or butter, as much of what I cook has other strong flavours, but this was something I tried out and liked:
washed and picked spinach
sliced leeks
vinaigrette dressing
Saute the leeks in the dressing and add the spinach to wilt for 5 minutes or so.
We were having roast chicken for dinner, with a butter bean mash (so lovely when the beans are mashed with the de-fatted pan drippings!) and it gave an added flavour-boost to the meal. The dark colour of the mash is from the well browned pan juices and the seasonings.
I really must find a way to photograph the food in the poorly lit kitchen in the evening! It all looks unappetising, and yet it all tastes great – at least to us. DH says he would happily eat this even if her were NOT doing slow-carb, and that says a lot.
The chicken recipe is here – the cabbage was actually really tasty and this is what I did:
1 savoy cabbage
1 tbls cider vinegar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tbls caraway seeds
salt and lots of pepper
Slice the cabbage into thin strips, after removing the hard core and any discoloured outside leaves.
Toss the cabbage with the rest of the ingredients and wrap in a foil parcel – make sure it is well sealed. Put it on a tray and pop in the oven for the last 10 -15 minutes of the chicken’s cooking time.
The caraway seeds add a really nice flavour. Serve with a daub of butter on top if you like. It makes a nice change from spinach!
Well, I forgot to take a photo of this, and DH and DS scarfed theirs down so quickly by the time I realized I couldn’t even snap one of theirs. DH declared it was the best cauliflower he had ever eaten. And so simple too.
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F
one head of cauliflower, broken up into small florets, had stems removed.
4 tbls olive oil
1 tbls turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbls black onion seeds
Combine all the spices and the oil. Toss the cauliflower in the oil and spice mix till all the florets are well coated. Spread the florets on a baking sheet (I usually line mine with foil, which makes clean up a snap!) and roast for 30-40 minutes.
We had it with lamb on a bed of thinly sliced carrots and rosemary. It was delish.
