I tried out this recipe this evening and it’s really easy, really tasty and low fat – brilliant! I halved the quantities here for the two of us, except for the 400g tin of chopped tomatoes. I think next time I’d put a whole chilli in for 2 people, but that’s just personal preference! I used linguine here, which was slightly on the done side because we were trying to rescue a butterfly…

This recipe comes from the July 2014 edition of BBC Good Food magazine.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large aubergine, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
400g/14oz fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped (or a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
400g/14oz dried tagliolini pasta (we used linguine)
Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped
50g/2oz pecorino, grated (or veggie alternative)

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and cook the aubergine for 5 minutes until starting to brown and soften.

2. Add the onion, garlic, chilli and oregano and cook for just a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and about 200ml water, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are reduced and the sauce is thickened.

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the tagliolini following the pack instructions. Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Add the sauce and toss well into the pasta with the basil. Serve with the grated pecorino.

Enjoy!

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This recipe takes hardly any time at all to make, so it’s a delicious meal for a weeknight. The combination of flavours is really good (although the first time we made it we were missing the sage because I couldn’t find any at the supermarket!). You could easily make a bigger batch for family or friends, or even leave out the Parma ham for a veggie version. I had linguine, but Tom has wholewheat fusilli instead – use whichever pasta you prefer.

Ingredients (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
400g cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped sage
a pinch of dried crushed chilli flakes
3 garlic cloves, crushed
sea salt flakes, crushed
85g Parma ham, slices separated
150g dried linguine
125g ricotta

Method

1. Warm the oil in a medium pan and tip in the cherry tomatoes, sage, chilli flakes, garlic and a generous pinch of sea salt.

2. Cook together for 10-15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the tomatoes have begun to soften – press them with the back of a spoon to squash them slightly.

3. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Separate the slices of Parma ham and slice into strips – dry-fry in a frying pan for a few minutes until crisp.

4. Boil the pasta according to pack instructions, drain, then return to the pan and toss with the hot tomato mixture and the strips of Parma ham.

5. Add the ricotta, in small pieces, toss once more and serve in warmed bowls.

This recipe is taken from the Sainsbury’s magazine website.

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I often decided to make up a recipe when I have a particular ingredient that needs using up, and this recipe came out of one of those occasions. We had a little bit of goats cheese left and, after feeling uninspired following a quick internet search, I decided to get a few simple ingredients and go for it! You don’t need much of the goats cheese at all – if you don’t like really rich food then you could probably just leave it out. We used some salami Napoli here, which is optional too if you would prefer a meat version.

This recipe uses the creamy basil pesto recipe that I’ve already posted, so you’ll need to make a batch of that before cooking the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (serves 2-3)

Linguine (cook enough for 2-3 people)
Olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped into fairly small pieces (but not finely chopped)
A handful of cup mushrooms, quartered
8 slices of salami Napoli (optional)
Ground black pepper
100g baby leaf spinach
1 batch of creamy basil pesto (click on link above)
25-50g goats cheese to serve (optional)

Method

1. Add some boiling water to a pan and cook the linguine according to the packet instructions.

2. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan, and add the onions. Cook until softened and beginning to brown before adding the mushrooms.

3. If adding the salami, tear each slice in half and add to the pan. Leave for a few minutes to cook.

4. Just before the pasta is ready, add the spinach to the onion and mushrooms, along with some ground black pepper. Allow the spinach to wilt a little.

5. Drain the pasta and stir the pesto through. Then add the vegetables and stir again. Plate up and then crumble a little goats cheese over the top, with a little more black pepper.

Enjoy!

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The original recipe includes a pickle made with gherkins , onion and parsley – but we are not gherkin or parsley fans so I left that out.

Ingredients (serves 4)

For the rice
1 mug (300g) of 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice
1/2 bunch fresh thyme
200g baby spinach

For the stroganoff

300g mixed mushrooms (I used chestnut and mini portobello)
Olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
2 x 200g sirloin steaks, fat removed
1 heaped tsp sweet paprika
Zest of 1 lemon
1 swig of brandy
4 heaped tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt
1 swig of semi-skimmed milk

Method

1. Put 1 mug of rice, 2 mugs of boiling water, the thyme leaves and a pinch of salt and pepper into a medium sized pan and put the lid on, stirring occasionally.

2. Tear or slice the mushrooms into a frying pan with 2 tablespoons of oil, then squash the unpeeled garlic through a garlic crusher and add to the pan.

3. Slice the steaks about 1cm thick and toss with salt, pepper, the paprika and lemon zest. Tip the mushrooms onto a plate and add two more tablespoons of oil to the pan along with the steak, turning when golden.

4. Add the spinach to the rice pan and replace the lid. Add the brandy to the steak (carefully light it with a match if you want to, letting the flames subside) and then return the mushrooms to the pan. Add the yoghurt and milk and bring to the boil.

5. Plate up the rice and spinach before adding the stroganoff on top. Enjoy!

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This super simple and delicious soup is really healthy and takes no time at all to prepare (about 30 minutes!), which means that it can easily be made on a week night. If you have more time, then you could make your own bread to go with it! This recipe comes from the BBC website.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
450g/1lb carrots, sliced
1 tsp ground coriander
1.2 litresl/2 pints vegetable stock
large bunch fresh coriander, roughly chopped
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the onions and the carrots. Cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to soften.

2. Stir in the ground coriander and season well. Cook for 1 minute.

3. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Whizz with a hand blender or in a blender until smooth. Reheat in a clean pan, stir in the fresh coriander and serve.

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This is a really delicious risotto and it only takes 30 minutes to cook (plus 10 minutes preparation), so it can easily be made on a weeknight for a treat! Tom isn’t a massive fan of cheese but he loved this – we put extra leek in instead of celery as neither of us are celery eaters.

This recipe originally comes from the Delicious Magazine website and serves 4.

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 leeks, finely sliced
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
6 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
Small handful fresh thyme leaves or lemon thyme leaves
350g risotto rice
200ml white wine
800ml chicken stock, hot
25g butter
50g Parmesan, grated
100g goat’s cheese, crumbled

Method
1. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat. Add the leek and fry until slightly soft. Remove and set aside. Add the celery, garlic and half the bacon, and fry for 5 minutes.

2. Return the leek to the pan (keeping back a spoonful). Add the thyme and rice and stir for 1-2 minutes.

3. Turn up the heat, add the wine and bubble for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol. Add the stock, a ladleful at a time, waiting until each one is absorbed before adding the next.

4. Meanwhile, fry the remaining bacon in a pan until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside. Take the risotto off the heat and stir in the butter, the Parmesan and half the goat’s cheese.

5. To serve, divide among 4 plates and top with the reserved leeks, remaining goat’s cheese and bacon. Enjoy!

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I love getting new cookery books, and the latest addition to my collection is Lorraine Pascale’s ‘Fast, Fresh and Easy Food’. I saw her TV show when we got back from honeymoon and really liked the recipes, and when I flicked through the book in the shop this recipe caught my eye. I couldn’t wait to start cooking (and blogging) again, and this seemed like a great recipe to start with! You could easily make this on a week night for a super tasty treat. I used half a squash and a sweet potato for this but it wasn’t quite enough, so next time I’ll use a whole squash and 2 sweet potatoes.

Ingredients

50g parmesan cheese
50g dried natural breadcrumbs (I whizzed up a a thick doorstop slice of bread instead)
600g prepared sweet potato and butternut squash (peel and cut into evenly sized chunks)
4 sprigs fresh rosemary
12 sage leaves
Olive oil
12 lasagne sheets
100g pine nuts, toasted
75g baby spinach leaves

For the white sauce
100g parmesan cheese
2cm piece fresh ginger
600g ricotta cheese
2 medium egg yolks
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

For the salad

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Pinch of English mustard powder (optional)
1 bag wild rocket
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7. Put the kettle on to boil for the vegetables.

2. Finely grate the parmesan for the topping, toss in a small bowl with the breadcrumbs and set aside.

3. Tip the prepared sweet potato and butternut squash into a large pan, add a little salt and then pour the boiling water over to cover. Put the lid on, bring back to the boil and then leave to bubble away for 15-20 minutes until tender.

4. Fill the kettle again and boil. Prepare the herbs by removing the leaves from the the stems of the rosemary. Roughly chop them with the sage leaves and set aside in a small bowl.

5. Pour the boiling water into a pan, add a drizzle of oil, slip in the lasagne sheets and leave to cook for 5 minutes (this is important as there isn’t a lot of liquid in the rest of the mixture to cook them in the oven).

6. As the lasagne cooks, prepare the sauce. Finely grate the parmesan and peel and grate the ginger. Place both in a medium bowl, add the ricotta, egg yolks and nutmeg, season with salt and pepper, then stir to combine and set aside.

7. Drain the lasagne sheets and tip them back into the pan. Drizzle a little more oil and gently toss the about to coat, so that the sheets don’t stick together.

8. Check that the vegetables are tender. Drain them off well and tip them back into the pan. Mash them with a masher until smooth and add salt and pepper to taste.

9. Now assemble the lasagne in the baking dish, set on a baking tray. Spread a third of the vegetable mash in the base of the dish. Next, scatter a third of the herbs, pine nuts and spinach leaves over. Then arrange 4 lasagne sheets on top, cutting to fit if necessary. Spread a third of the ricotta mixture over.

10. Repeat twice more, and finally sprinkle the parmesan breadcrumbs on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

11. While that is cooking, prepare the salad dressing by simply mixing the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder (if using) and seasoning together in a small bowl.

12. When cooked, serve the lasagne with a handful of rocket drizzled with the dressing. Enjoy!

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