Smoked salmon salad wrap

Had a late meeting, but wanted a simple, yet tasty snack …. so

Corn tortilla
smoked salmon
red onion
avocado
lime
radish
Lettuce

5 minutes - done!

1.  Finely chop a little red onion.  Finely slice radishes.  Scoop flesh from avocado and slice, squirt with a little lime juice to keep it looking green and to add a little extra sharpness.
2.  Sprinkle corn tortilla with a little water, microwave on full for 10 seconds each side (softens the wrap).
3.  Lay smoked salmon slices onto the tortilla.  Arrange the veg on top, wrap.
4.  Serve, scoff …. so easy, so quick, so tasty.

Potato and gruyere bake with stir fried cavolo nero and red pepper

The humble spud can be elevated to something really quite delicious with a little bit of chopping and the application of heat.  The cheese in the bake provides the protein, and a little goes quite a long way making this quite a budget tea.  Cavolo nero is still bang in season and full of iron (and flavour).

Olive oil
Potato
Onion
Gruyere
Tomato
Bouillon (or veg stock cube)
Cavolo nero
Spring onions
red pepper
Garlic
Sesame seeds

1.  Thinly slice potatoes, onions and tomatoes as finely as you can.  Cut gruyere into small cubes or thin slices.
2.  Drizzle olive oil in an oven dish.
3.  Layer potato, onion, cheese, tomato, potato, onion, cheese, tomato, potato.
4.  Drizzle the top with a little more olive oil, pour in a mug full of vegetable stock.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.
5.  Chop spring onions into rounds and red peppers into small batons.  Shred cavolo nero.  Crush garlic.
6.  Remove the foil from the bake, to allow the top to brown.
7.  In a wok, heat olive oil.  When hot stir fry the chopped veg and garlic.  Add a small cup of water to allow it to steam, fry.  Keep it moving for 5 minutes or so - until the water has evaporated and the veg is cooked enough for you.  I like it still a bit crunchy.
8.  Sprinkle sesame seeds onto the veg.
9.  Serve, scoff … tasty!

Carrot and pea curry and tarka dhal

Cheap, nutritious and delicious.  Sourced from Todmorden market - The Mediterranean Pantry spices, coconut oil, rice and lentils.  Kevin outside for the vegetables.

Coconut oil
Onion
Garlic
Basmati rice
Fennel seed
Cumin seed
Coriander seed
Mustard seeds
Chilli flakes
Turmeric
Red lentils
Carrots
Potatoes
Peas
Curry leaves
Garam masala

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in coconut oil.
2.  Put rice on to cook - I bring to the boil in a pan covered in 1 inch of water, slam the lid on and turn it right down for 15 minutes.
3.  Boil lentils in water, keep an eye on them, stir occasionally to stop them sticking and add more water if it goes too dry.
4.  Add fennel, cumin, coriander, chilli and turmeric to the softened onion.  Stir in and cook for a couple of minutes.
5.  Add peel diced carrot and potato to the onion spice mixture, stir in.  Add a cup of water, put the lid on a simmer gently for about 15 minutes - check the water level occasionally.  Add a teaspoon of garam masala and stir in.
6.  When the vegetables are nearly done chuck in a handful of frozen peas and put the lid back on for a few minutes.
7.  Make the tarka by heating coconut oil in a small pan - add mustard, cumin, fennel and coriander seeds and a few curry leaves.  Fry for a minute or so, and then pour over the lentils.
8.  Serve, scoff, save!

Baked trout with a pistachio crust

I cheated with a frozen potato dauphinoise thingy - but it's fresh trout, with a crust of ground up pistachios  and steamed veg … potato thingy baked (as per packet instructions) for 25 minutes, fish for 15 and veg steamed.  It's not a recipe, but it was lovely, so I thought I would include it.

Sweetcorn fritters, potato wedges, spicy courgettes and tzadziki

There's an awful lot of sweetcorn around at the moment, so one of them was sued up in these fritters. They were pretty quick to make, and turned out quite delicious.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Sweetcorn
Red onion
Porridge oats
Eggs
Courgette
Spicy ragu mix
Tzadziki



1.  Cut potatoes into wedges, toss in olive oil and roast for about 45 minutes.
2.  Cut the kernals off the sweetcorn (stand on it's end and run a knife down the cob).  Finely chop a red onion.
3.  Add a handful of oats to the corn and onion and mix together, break in a couple of eggs and mix in.  It should form a batter - not a wet pancakey batter, but enough to hold the bits together in the pan.
4.  Toss sliced courgette in spicy ragu mix (not too much, it's quit hot).
5.  In 2 pans fry the fritters and sliced courgette - keep them warm in the oven if you need to do batches.
6.  Serve, with tzadziki, scoff

(To my shame it was shop bought tzadziki, to give it a try … it was OK but home made is better, and dead easy … mix crushed garlic, finely diced/grated cucumber, a little olive oil, a pinch of mint and squirt of lemon juice into greek yogurt … done!)

Roasted mediterranean vegetables - with some sweetcorn, chicken and potatoes

 Clinging on to the last days of summer I decided to roast some delicious Mediterranean vegetables - topped with good feta.  All ingredients available from Todmorden market … life is good!

Olive oil
Garlic
Potatoes
Onion
Red onion
Courgette
Red pepper
Tomatoes
Italian seasoning
Chicken thighs
Sweetcorn
Feta

1. Cut potatoes into chunks, toss in olive oil and put in to roast at 180.
2.  Roughly chop red onion, courgettes, red pepper and tomatoes.  Add a pinch of Italian seasoning and 2 cloves of garlic - toss in olive oil and put in the oven to roast.
3.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.  Add chicken thighs, skin side down to brown.  After 5 minutes turn chicken over and put in the oven to roast.
4.  After 30 minutes boil sweetcorn.
5.  Check on roasting things, turn them over.
6.  When the sweetcorn is ready (about 12 minutes) remove things from the oven.  Crumble feta onto the veg.
7.  Serve, scoff …. delicious

There were loads of veg left over - so I added a few sun dried tomatoes and some water - whizzed them up in a soup maker and had this outstanding soup.  The feta gave it a lovely silky texture.