Hot Sweet Potato Bowl

This dinner was inspired by Sarah Yates at House in the Hills… and is my new favourite.

It’s so delicious and so healthy, and also very filling!

This is the way I had it but you could throw in whatever veggies/salad you have…

You need – for one;
1 sweet potato
1/2 an avocado, chopped
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 lime
1 small bunch coriander
1 dollop creme fraiche
plus sea salt and black pepper and ground cumin

1. Roast your sweet potato, coat the skin in a little olive oil and sea salt and pop in a medium to high oven for an hour… this is approximate as the time and temperature will fully depend on the size of your potato… just keep your eye on it after about half an hour.
Wait till the skin in nice and crispy and the inside is fluffy, then sprinkle some cumin on the inside and season.

2. Put your potato in a bowl and cut open then cube it inside the skin, add the cubed avocado, tomatoes and coriander, then zest some of the lime and squeeze a little of the juice over before adding the creme fraiche.

Season some more and enjoy!

I made double and took some to lunch the next day, it was really good as a cold salad as well.

Super Salmon with Kale and Sweet Potato Salad

This is a new staple in my house. I have already made it twice and that Kale salad… third time is on tonight. 

 

Stacked with ‘super foods’ this meal is so full of goodness that you feel it when you’re eating. I swear.

For 2 people you need;
2 salmon fillets
1 red chilli, chopped
1 lime
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (or salt)
1/2 tsp sugar

250g kale, finely chopped
2 small-medium sweet potatoes, chopped into bite size chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped
parmesan chunks to taste (c. 100g)

1. Roast for sweet potato chunks in some olive oil, salt and pepper for about 20-30 minutes at 200c.

2. Mix your marinades, first the kale; olive oil, red wine vinegar and the shallots and mix well with the kale and coat it using your hands. This ‘cooks the kale’.
Then the salmon, the chilli, lime, ginger, soy, fish sauce and sugar, put to one side.

3. When the potatoes are about halfway done, and if your salmon has a nice skin on it fry them in a non stick pan briefly to crisp this up, I love crispy skin but hate it soggy! Then transfer to some foil and pour over the marinade and bake for 6-7 minutes (or more if needed)

4. Mix the potatoes with the kale and add the parmesan chunks – made them thinnish slices but thick enough you can bite them and taste the cheese. Serve with the salmon, with the extra marinade poured over.

Recipes for the Kale Salad and Salmon the (adapted) from Refinery 29

Mushroom Risotto

Many of you probably know how to make risotto… I never really made it before. Its my husbands thing, he does it so well I never tried.

So when I went to the Square Food Foundation and learnt how to make it from a top chef… It was a surprise how easy it was… I know I know everyone says this.

They taught us little chef tricks; how to slice an onion really small and tips on how to make a risotto really great, and how important it is not to brown your onions.

So for a really amazing mushroom risotto you need;
2 pints stock (chicken, or vegetable) note that if you don’t have fresh buy the best cubes you can find
2 tbsp olive oil
knob of butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ head celery, trimmed and finely chopped
400g risotto rice
2 wine glasses dry white wine
100g sliced mushrooms – I used a mix of exotic mushrooms but chestnut would also work
salt and freshly ground black pepper
70g butter
115g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the stock.

Melt a knob of butter in a pan and add the mushrooms and the leaves from a couple of sprigs of thyme. Cook over a gentle heat, stirring until the mushrooms soften and turn golden. Stir in 1 chopped clove of garlic and cook for a further minute and put to one side.

Put the oil and butter in a saucepan, add the onion, garlic and celery and cook very slowly for about 15 minutes without colouring… This is called a soffrito. You want everything to go translucent.

Then add the rice and very briefly lightly fry until the edges go a little translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring – it will smell fantastic.

Once the wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.

Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes.

Taste the rice to check if it’s cooked. If not, carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite.

When the rice is nearly cooked, and just before you add the final ladleful of stock, stir in the mushrooms. Remove from the heat and add the butter, parmesan and 1 tbsp of  mascapone if you like.

Season now to your taste…

Put a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minutes so it gets all creamy. Then eat!

This is now my favourite thing to make and I have already made a few different risottos, and I am now going to make sure I always have risotto rice in the house.

Happy Friday!

Friday is here!

It’s been a whirlwind week… I have no idea where it’s gone.

Tonight I have a Pilates class and a bit of admin work for my wedding job to do but as it’s Friday night I need to make that okay so I am thinking Mexican food, wine and a movie I had seen a hundred times so I am not too distracted…

Maybe a recipe from Liberty London Girl who has a couple of Mexican type bowls on her blog I have been wanting to make for ever, and neither require much work, which is good as my kitchen is a building site!

Maybe this bowl or this dip and some tortillas.

Bring on 5pm.

I’ll be back next week with my LAST TWO honeymoon recommendations from San Francisco and then hopefully it won’t be long until the kitchen is finished and apart from painting and decorating I’ll be free to cook again.

So excited.

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Honey, Figs and Goats Cheese

I have been wanting this salad for weeks, I finally spotted some figs at Waitrose last week and went for it…

Not a recipe more of a shopping list type post…

You need;
A slice of tasty bread, I used sourdough, drizzled with olive oil and baked for 10 minutes at a low heat
A good large slice of goats cheese, again backed at a low heat for 5 minutes
Figs, 1 per person, baked, you guessed it, on a low heat for 5-10 minutes
Salad leaves, I like baby leaves.

Plus great olive oil and honey, seat salt and black pepper. I also added some plus tomatoes.

That’s it… so great, the gooey cheese and warm figs with the sweet honey is just a classic combination I love.

It’s also great with blue cheese.