Welcome to week3 of bon appetite. This good weather looks set to continue this week so
I’ve included some lighter recipes but still with the protein+carbohydrate+vegetable
formula. Thanks for all your positive comments about this project. If you have any favourite
recipes you’d like to share please send them in.
Paprika pork with butter bean and rice salad
Pork tenderloin (fillet) is, not
surprisingly given its
name,...tender. It’s mild in
flavour and an excellent source
of protein and B vitamins
essential for metabolising
energy. The butter bean salad is
fantastic. I love the creamy
texture of butter beans. If you
don’t like olives, leave them out
of the recipe. My cooking has a Spanish vibe to it at the moment, must be the weather, and
this is one of the recipes I’ve been enjoying recently. It’s great on the BBQ as you get a
sticky, chargrilled surface on the meat. Yum. It would also be good cooked under the grill or
on one of those ridged griddle pans. Again this is a recipe that needs marinading. But you
can do something fun whilst that’s happening. Chat with a friend, sit outside enyoying this
fantastic weather, read a book, paint your nails, stroke the cat....
Serves 2
Ingredients
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300g pork tenderloin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon oregano
Butter bean Salad
 4 handfuls brown rice or 1 pouch ready cooked brown rice
 Handful cherry tomatoes
 1 can of butter beans (or other white beans such as cannellini), drained
 2 spring onions
 Large handful of rocket leaves
 Few semi-dried/sun dried tomatoes
 Few large black olives
 1 lemon, juiced
 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
 Large pinch each of ground black pepper and salt
 Large punch of dried oregano
Method
1. Cut the pork into thick slices and place in a non metallic dish.
2. Mix together the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and pour over
the pork. Make sure the marinade is on both sides of the pork. Leave to marinate in
the fridge for at least an hour.
3. Heat the grill, BBQ or griddle pan. Cook the pork for about 5 mins each side until
cooked through.
For the salad:
1. Cook rice according to the instructions on the pack.
2. Cut cherry tomatoes in half. Rinse butter beans and drain well. Slice spring onions
including most of the upper parts of the green stems. Dice the semi-dried tomatoes
and pit and dice the olives.
3. In a large bowl combine halved tomatoes, butter beans, spring onions, semi-dried
tomatoes, and olives. Add rocket leaves.
4. Spoon rice into the salad mixture, and gently toss the whole salad together
For the dressing:
1. In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried
oregano. Add to the salad mixture.
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Quinoa Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Apples
Quinoa is
THE food of the moment. You can hardly
open a magazine or newspaper without there being
some article extolling the virtues of this so called
“superfood” and its various health claims. In fact the
Food and Agricultural organisation of the United
Nations has declared 2013 to be recognised as ‘The
Year of quinoa’! The quinoa that we buy in the shops is
actually a seed from a plant the belongs in the same
family as spinach, chard and beet and is grown in South America. As well as carbohydrate,
fibre and minerals quinoa also contains protein. This protein is a complete protein in that it
contains all of the nine amino acids that the body is unable to make. However, quinoa
contains mainly carbohydrate and should not replace protein rich foods such as meat, fish,
pulses, eggs.
I’ve tried quinoa a couple of times in the past and wasn’t particularly impressed but because
of all the hype I decided to try it again last weekend as I needed a salad to take to a friend’s
BBQ. I found this salad on the American blog Dinner with Julie and it looked good so i gave it
a try and it turned out much better than previous recipes so I thought I would share it
(having converted it to UK measures!:)).
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 handfuls quinoa, rinsed in a fine sieve
handful raisins
1 large can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
a handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
crumbled feta (or as much as you want)
1/2 apple, chopped
handful chopped walnuts or almonds
Dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 tsp. honey
½ teaspoon curry powder
Method
1. Cook quinoa according to package directions. Tip into a salad bowl and set aside to
cool. (Tip: add the raisins as it cools – the raisins will plump up as they absorb any
excess moisture.)
2. Add the chickpeas, parsley, feta and apple
3. Mix all the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad.
4. Toss, then sprinkle with toasted walnuts or almonds just before serving.
Peppered mackerel fish cake
These fish cakes are my daughters favourite and I have to
admit they are pretty good. I’ve made them with all sorts
of smoked mackerel... plain, peppered, chilli and they all
worked just fine. I usually use leftover mashed potato for
these or just roughly crush some boiled potatoes with a
fork. I don’t use the horseradish sauce as we’re not fans of
it and they still taste great. These freeze really well too so
I often make double quantity and freeze some for a readymade meal another day.
Serves 2
Ingredients
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150g cold mashed potatoes
couple spring onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon horseradish sauce, optional
150g peppered mackerel fillets, skinned and flaked
1tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
dried breadcrumbs
sunflower oil, for frying
Method
1.
In a large bowl, mix together the potato, spring onions, horseradish (if using) and
mackerel, then shape into 4 even-size cakes.
2.
Roll the fish cakes in the flour, shaking off any excess, then dip in the egg, followed
by the breadcrumbs. Cover and chill until ready to cook. (Can be prepared up to a day
ahead, or frozen).
3.
Gently grill or shallow-fry the fish cakes for 5-6 mins on each side until crunchy,
golden brown and hot all the way through.
4.
Serve with salad, baked beans or green veg.
Breadcrumbs
You can buy dried breadcrumbs at the supermarket or make your own by placing slices of bread
directly on oven shelves and heating 180oC 5-10 mins until crisp but not brown. Grind to
breadcrumbs either in blender or food processors or place in a bag and bash with a rolling pin (great
for anger management!)
Mango chicken with Couscous
Another quick, easy recipe. The sauce is delicious –
sweet yet tangy. All this dish needs is a vegetable to
accompany it. Give it a try.
Serves2
Ingredients
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olive oil
2 chicken breasts cut into thin strips
2 tsp ground cumin
500ml hot chicken stock
4 handfuls couscous
4 tbsp mango chutney
4 spring onions , finely sliced
a small handful coriander , roughly chopped
Method
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan. Sprinkle the chicken with the ground cumin and
cook for a couple of minutes until lightly browned.
2. In a bowl, pour 200ml of the chicken stock over the couscous and leave to soak for 5
minutes.
3. Add the mango chutney to the chicken, stir well and leave to bubble for a couple of
minutes then add most of the remaining chicken stock and spring onions and cook
for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Add more stock if sauce looks
too thick. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, stir half the coriander through the
couscous and the remainder through the chicken and serve.
Grilled lime coconut chicken
Lime, coconut and mild spices, this chicken
dish has a great combination of flavours. The
coconut milk adds a lovely silkiness to the
sauce. The recipe is taken from another food
blog that I often turn to for inspiration - Mel’s
kitchen cafe. It’s an American blog so I’ve
anglicised the quantities and ingredients. The
coconut rice goes really well with it but plain
rice would be equally good if you prefer. You
could cook your own rice or use one of the
easy cook pouches available at supermarkets. Any leftover coconut milk freezes well (I’ll
post another recipe to use it up next week) or you could use it in smoothies, porridge,
pancakes to add a tropical flavour.
Serves 2
Ingredients
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1 tablespoons oil
Zest and juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons soy sauce
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons curry powder
100ml coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half horizontally
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
Fresh lime wedges
Coconut Rice:
 4 handfuls jasmine/basmati rice
 100ml coconut milk
 100ml water
Method
1. In a bowl whisk together the oil, lime zest, lime juice, cumin, coriander, soy sauce,
sugar, curry powder, coconut milk, and chili powder. Season well.
2. Place the chicken in a non metallic dish and pour the marinade over the chicken.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Preheat a BBQ, grill or griddle pan. Grill the chicken for 6-7 minutes per side (actual
time will depend on the thickness of the chicken). While the chicken is cooking, pour
the marinade into a small saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Place the grilled chicken on a plate. Pour over the sauce and sprinkle fresh coriander
over the top. Serve with lime wedges, coconut rice and vegetables.
For the coconut rice:
1. Bring the rice, coconut milk and water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Cover,
reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid is mostly
evaporated. Remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes. Season and
before fluff with a fork before serving.