Tag Archives: healthy

Greens with garlic and soy

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Greens with garlic and soy

I have a feeling these greens could be magic.  My daughter really doesn’t like broccoli, in fact she has an aversion to most green veggies, however not only will she happily help herself to these without encouragement (bribery) but will have seconds.  Unbelievable.  I’ve mentioned before that its one of my life’s works to find a way my children will enjoy all, or most, vegetables and this is one of those successes.   I imagine the garlic and soy sauce go a long way towards making these so ridiculously delicious.  Whatever it is, I maximise the advantage and these are served regularly at my table alongside all manner of stir fries or anything with an Asian note.

Quick, healthy, cheap, delicious – what is not to like about this dish.  I am happy to tuck into these for a lone lunch and indeed ate, or rather greedily scoffed, the greens you see in the picture for lunch today.   A side of rice would have worked well to soak up the delicious sauce but I didn’t even get round to that.   We had something like this at Wagamama and loved the simplicity and crunch so couldn’t wait to have a go making it myself.  I suspect the original may have some additional ingredients but I couldn’t suss them and regardless love the pared down ingredients in the recipe below as much as the flavour.  You could add a pinch of chilli flakes if you want or a squirt of Sriracha to the greens but honestly, they don’t need it.

Greens with Garlic and Soy

Use any crunchy greens that catch your eye.  I always use broccolini and pak choi as that was what I had first had.  This time I’ve added the last of the green beans from the garden and you could use regular broccoli if that is what you have.   Going completely off piste, carrots work well in this application although they take longer to lose their raw crunch so bear this in mind before you add the garlic and soy.  Just thought you should know.

1 tablespoon oil

1 head of pak choi cut into sixths lengthwise

A handful of broccolini (around 8 stalks)

A handful of green beans, topped, tailed and halved

1 clove garlic, finely sliced

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari if you prefer

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan.  Add the vegetables and stir fry for 4-5 minutes until just losing their rawness and gaining a little colour.  Put in the garlic and stir quickly so it doesn’t burn followed by the sugar and soy sauce.  Cook for a further minute stirring all the time and then serve.  This is enough for 2 with rice for lunch or 4 as a side.

Greens with garlic and soy 3

 

 

 

Thai-ish Salad

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Thai salad 2

Right I must say from the off that this is a Thai salad in the loosest possible sense.  Yes there is coriander, lime juice, fish sauce etc but also apple and radish and I’m not sure quite how authentic they are.   That said, it is fabulous to eat and sometimes I am happy to throw authenticity out of the window.  I think I mentioned it with Paella (January 2013) – I am not trying to recreate an original dish, I simply want to make something good to eat.

This is crisp, crunchy and jam packed with flavours.  The ginger, garlic and (small amount) of chilli give this life and heat whilst the herbs and lime bring zip and zing to the party.  You can leave out the apple if you want but I love their tangy sweetness and likewise the radishes, if they are not your thing omit them but they add peppery crunch and a beautiful pink.

It is a bonus for me that my children like this.  My daughter is a bit of a salad phobe but she adores and this and happily ploughs her way through a bowlful, sometimes adding a little more chilli and then smacking her lips and puffing as a result.   Its good to see them enjoying a bit of healthy salad at this time of year when we are rather surrounded by root vegetables and a lot of hardy brassicas.

This is fab with pork chops or roast chicken (hot or cold) and also works very well with leftovers.  In particular I’m thinking leftover turkey here but then that would make it a challenger to my beloved Christmas Salad (December 2013).  Never mind, we’ll just have both.

Thai salad

Thai Salad

Make the dressing first so that the flavours can sit and meld for a bit.

Juice of 1 lime

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons light olive oil

1/2 tablespoon fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon caster sugar

1/2 teaspoon sriracha or other chilli sauce

Small thumb ginger, finely grated

1 small clove garlic, finely grated

1/4 white cabbage

1 apple

6 radishes

2 carrots, peeled

1/2 bunch coriander

1/2 bunch mint

Mix the first nine ingredients together to make the dressing.  Taste and adjust as you see fit, a little more chilli perhaps?  Finely chop the rest of the ingredients and mix in a large bowl, add most of the dressing and combine.  You may or may not need all the dressing, it rather depends on the size of your cabbage and carrots!   Enough for 4 as a side.

 

Salmon with Pickled Cucumber

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Salmon and Pickled Cucumber

I was asked recently for more supper recipes, easy, quick, everyday numbers to resolve that daily dilemma, what are we going to eat tonight?    Several ideas came to mind but this is the one I was cooking that night for supper and in itself presented me with a problem.  Could I actually offer this up as a recipe?  As you will see it contains very few ingredients and furthermore part of it is from a recipe I created last year, the Herby Ricotta with Pickled Cucumber (September 2014).   Surely no one needs the suggestion of salmon for supper but maybe the pickled cucumber is a bit of a departure?  Indeed the crunchy, sweet and sour elements of this go splendidly with the rich, oily salmon, quite a partnership.  Anyway I dithered for a bit before realising how mad I sound.  Get ahold of yourself I said.  This is not a dilemma, choosing names for your children, deciding which house to buy, what career to pursue – these could all be considered dilemmas but not whether this can be justified as a recipe or not.

That it is unbelievably quick and easy is hardly a problem; nor that it requires a shopping list you could probably fit on a stamp;  most crucially it is extremely good and of course, good for you.  If you aren’t a carbo phobe it goes perfectly with glorious, fudgy Jersey royals and a big green salad, heavy on the fresh mint, would also be just the ticket, a fab supper.

Salmon with Pickled Cucumber

I made extra of this last week and had it cold for my lunch the next day.  I ate it with a salad but couldn’t help thinking it would also make a stellar filling for a sandwich.

2 salmon fillets

1 teaspoon olive oil

A couple of chives, finely chopped

Half a cucumber

1 tablespoon caster sugar

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Salt

Put the sugar and vinegar into a shallow bowl with a pinch of salt and leave to dissolve. Using a vegetable peeler, take long slices of cucumber avoiding the watery seeds in the middle and add to the bowl.  Leave for half an hour, stirring occasionally, for the cucumber to “pickle”.  Meanwhile brush the salmon fillets with the oil on both sides and put skin side down in a hot pan.  Leave for 5 minutes before turning and cooking on the other side for a further 5 minutes – this should be just right but cook a little longer if you prefer or your fillets are huge.  Sprinkle with the chives and serve with the pickled cucumber.  Enough for 2 but easily doubled, tripled….