3 easy healthy dishes
Potato and Cabbage soup
1 leek
1 large carrot
1 large onion
2 sticks celery
1/2 head white cabbage
80z mild smoked bacon chopped
1 bouquet garni, or 1 dessertspoon mixed herbs
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tbsp tomato purèe
sour cream to swirl
6 pints homemade stock
This soup is so easy to make it's ridiculous!
Cut the vegetables into large chunks, leaving the potato chunks till a bit later.
Put into the pan with the stock, and cook until soft.
In the meantime, blitz the potato chunks in the food processor until you have a purèe.
When the vegetables are soft and the stock is boiling, add in the raw potato purèe. It will start to thick immediately
Stir constantly until the soup is thickened
Add the sweet paprika.
Add the tomato purèe
To serve, ladle into soup bowls and add a swirl of sour cream and a further dusting of paprika.
Tuna salad
I buy jars of tuna in olive oil, I find the quality better than tinned.
8oz tuna drained
2 raw red capsicums cut into small squares
1 red onion, chopped
1 can cannellini beans, or more to taste
The same weight of fresh tomatoes as you have of capsicums
Fresh parsley - 1 good handful
Lemon juice to taste
A good drizzle of really good olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Toss the ingredients together and serve with a Romaine lettuce garnish. Don't be tempted to add sweet corn, it dulls the flavour, as does mayonnaise.
Salad of Bulghur or couscous with roasted vegetables:
80z dry coucous, re-hydrated with boiling water and a touch of olive oil.
Roasted red capsicums, tomatoes, eggplant, red onion, courgettes and chickpeas.
Large handfuls each of fresh chopped parsley and fresh mint
Good sprinkling of black pepper and salt to taste
Chop the vegetables into bite size chunks and roast in a hot oven
cook the bulghur or couscous according to the instructions on the packet
When cooked, transfer to a large serving dish and add:
The couscous
The roasted vegetables
The chopped herbs
Mix well until the vegetables and couscous are evenly mixed.
Add in the chopped herbs and distribute evenly throught the salad
Add the lemon juice (added to taste) and black pepper.
Leave to amalgamate the flavours for a good couple of hours in the fridge.
Serve with chicken or lamb kebabs, or with falafel.
di reston
Enough is never as good as a feast Oscar Wilde