Wednesday wishes

Recipes I'm pinning this week:

Slow cooker chipotle pulled pork

 

Salmon and brown rice salad

Pretzels!

Grapefruit basil sorbet

What I'm watching:

Gok Cooks Chinese

Pesto tuna salad

Since I rambled a lot in my last recipe post, I'll keep it short sharp and sweet in this one.

There are three reasons why you should get yourself a can of tuna and turn it into this salad:

- it's delicious

- takes no time to make

- it's healthy and delicious (oh snap)

I'll admit when I saw the pesto tuna combo I was skeptical. But that was a long time and ago and is in the past. Flaky, delicate tuna, soft potatoes, herby and fragrant pesto, nutty green beans and lots of salt and pepper. And spinach. We all watched Popeye, so there's no need to explain what spinach does, right?

The quantities can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc as this salad is a perfect addition to any summer barbeque (if summer ever comes to England this year, which is a whole other story!)

To make enough for two you'll need:

 

200 g potatoes (Charlotte or other waxy potatoes are the best), sliced 

1 can of tuna (in oil or brine), drained

1 pack of green beans

2 large handfuls of spinach

2 heaped teaspoons of green pesto

a few parmesan shavings

salt and pepper

olive oil

Slice potatoes into half centimetre slices (rough measurement, the key is not to slice them too thinly - you don't want them to fall apart). 

Boil potatoes and beans until tender (don't ask how long - I always poke my potatoes and beans with a fork to check if they're ready, but I'd say they take about 10 minutes), drain, place back in the same pot, add pesto, cover the pot with a lid and toss gently until they are covered in the sauce. Set aside.

In a large bowl, assemble spinach and flaked tuna.

Add beans and potatoes with pesto, season with salt, pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Gently mix and serve with shaved parmesan.

Instagrub

Making soup

Pesto and tuna salad

peanut banana smoothie

Tights in June - ehhh

Baking!

Coffee walnut cake - recipe coming soon!

Cool East London mural

Pembroke College - Cambridge

River Cam

Punting in Cambridge

Lunch

and relax!

Turkey meatballs pasta

I loved reading books when I was a child (I still do!). First, I would beg my mum to read 'The Wizard of Oz' to me, then, somehow I learnt to read and would devour books by a truckload. Thinking back about the books I used to be particularly crazy about I came to a conclusion they all had one thing in common. Well, you guessed it: they all featured descriptions of food. One from the Oz series included a detailed paragraph about lunch boxes growing on trees (how cool would that be, huh?). Then there was 'Little house on the prairie' which had me salivating at descriptions of bacon and maple syrup, cornbread and sliced fat salt pork. And finally (before you start doubting where all this leads to) 'The six Bullerby children'. I swear I must have read this book at least 15 times and to this day I remember a chapter featuring the main character's mother making meatballs. Ah, meatballs! I make them really often and every time I shake the pan I see myself, aged 7 reading about Bullerby children's adventures.

A little side note: while doing a little research to confirm the titles of the books I came across this brilliant blog: Literary Food Porn. I think the name says it all!

Now, back to the stars of today's post. You can use all sorts of meat for meatballs, but I recently became a fan of turkey mince as I'm trying to cut a few calories here and there. And there's no leaner meat than turkey!

This recipe is really, and I mean really simple. The meatballs use only a few ingredients and so does the sauce. You're probably wondering why the egg and breadcrumbs are missing from the meatball ingredients list; the answer might come as a bit of a shock: they aren't necessary! Trust me, your meatballs will not fall apart and they'll be juicier. Simplicity baby!

So let's get started.

To make enough for two people you'll need:

For the meatballs:

500 g turkey mince

salt

pepper

dried herbs (I used about a tsp of thyme and oregano)

pinch of cayenne pepper

1 tbsp oil, for frying

For the sauce:

1 red/white onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, squeezed through garlic press or chopped

few fresh basil leaves

400 g can of chopped tomatoes

1 courgette, cubed

salt, pepper to taste

pasta (enough for two)

parmesan

more basil, to serve

Get a pot of water boiling for the pasta and start by making meatballs.

In a big bowl, mix turkey mince, salt, pepper (about a tsp of each), herbs and cayenne, then form little balls - each one of mine is about 25 g which is a heaped teaspoon. 500 grams of meat should yield a batch of give or take 25 meatballs. And best thing is, if that's too much you can always freeze some for later!

Now the meatballs are ready, get chopping! Finely slice onion, garlic and courgette and open a can of tomatoes. 

The water for pasta should be boiling now: add whichever pasta you fancy - I used some nice colourful shells that my friend recently brought me from Trieste.

Get some oil nice and hot in the pan and put your meatballs in, one by one. Fry for about a minute or two before shaking the pan to get them evenly brown. Don't poke them with a fork or a spatula, just shake the pan!

After about 3 minutes the meatballs should be nice and golden brown all over - set them aside on a big plate (don't worry about meat being raw, you'll cook the meatballs some more in the sauce).

Add a bit more oil to the pan and fry onion, garlic and courgette for about 5 minutes.

Then add tomatoes and meatballs and simmer gently to reduce the sauce.

Drain the pasta, spoon meatballs and sauce all over, pop a few fresh basil leaves and parmesan shavings on top and tuck in!

Wednesday wishes

This week I'm pinning:

Roasted garlic and rosemary spelt flour bread

Bean salad with lemon vinaigrette

Salted chocolate truffles (by Rosie of The Londoner)

And I would love:

this cute bento box

this amazing IKEA countertop

 

Happy Wednesday! (or rather what's left of it!)

Better baked beans

I remember my first encounter with baked beans. Slaving away in a hotel in Eastbourne, working as a waitress I was serving full English breakfast every morning. Fried breakfast seemed strange. And beans? Bleurgh.
Silly me! As soon as I tried them, our love affair began. Tasty. Healthy. Perfect for breakfast with a slice of wholemeal toast. Yum.
As soon as I saw a recipe for better baked beans in one of my recipe books I knew it would be right up my street. It's got beans. And bacon. And is served with baked potatoes. Comfort food at its best.

Now, a little side note. I realised that a lot of the recipes I posted so far use bacon. Mhmm. This might make you think I'm sponsored by Association of British Bacon Producers (I just totally made that name up). This is not the case. I just like bacon, ok? ;)

To make enough Better Baked Beans for two you'll need:

3 strips of streaky bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp sugar (brown or white)
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml vegetable stock
410g can of cannellini, butter or haricot beans, drained
salt, pepper, dried oregano or basil
1 tbsp oil

500 g potatoes, cut into wedges (I used Charlotte potatoes)
1 tbsp white flour
1/2 cayenne pepper/cajun seasoning or paprika
1tsp dried rosemary or thyme
2 tsp of oil

Start off by heating up the oven to 190-200 degrees. Put potato wedges in a plastic freezer bag, add flour, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, herbs and 2 teaspoons of oil, tie the bag and shake until the potatoes are covered. Spread on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

Now, while the potatoes are roasting, fry bacon and onion with a bit of oil (about 5 minutes).

Add tomatoes, a teaspoon of sugar (to cut through the sourness of tomatoes), herbs, salt and pepper and stock.

Simmer for 10 minutes and add drained beans. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

Done! Serve topped with roasted potatoes.

Place yourself on a sofa and relax.

Instagrub and more

Apologies for the lack of posts this week! I'm procrastinating after a holiday :)

three beers: pils, honey and wheat

banana beer in Old Market Square in Poznan, Poland

reading on a train

walrus! (bored on another train journey)

butternut squash salad for dinner

birthday drinks - Braeburn Pie

birthday flowers

Ok, not that much food,  but I'll improve next week!