FREEKEH SALAD WITH SUMAC LAMB

Always one to try something new when I see it; when I discovered a box of Freekeh on the shelves of Bristol Sweetmart the other day, I couldn't resist buying it.

Freekeh is a roasted green wheat which is particularly popular in Palestine, the Arabian peninsula and Egypt. According to Wikipedia: "The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavour, texture, and colour uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur."

The initial plan was to make this as a vegetarian salad, but a surplus lamb shank changed that plan. Buying three of any piece of meat usually proves difficult as the store normally packages them in twos. Although shanks were available to buy singularly at the butcher counter, they were much smaller and looked inferior.

This recipe would work equally well with other cracked wheat such as bulgur, or even couscous or rice.

Freekeh Salad with Sumac Lamb, Figs and Feta

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra easy providing you use the cheese as your Healthy Extra A

150g cooked lamb

1 tsp sumac

100g freekeh

5-6 small fresh figs, quartered

100g feta cheese, cubed

½ red onion, thinly sliced

small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

Cut the cooked lamb in to small slivers and coat with the sumac. Leave in infuse for a while. Cook the freekeh in plenty of salted water for 30 minutes or until cooked to your liking. Mix together all the ingredients and serve.

This was a great salad to take for a car picnic today, although I did carry the feta cheese and parsley separately and mixed in just as I was serving. 

PORK AND PASTA BAKE

Yet another dish where I am not going to offer a recipe – gosh I feel lazy today! To the leftover pasta with pork and mushrooms from Sunday night, I added a small carton of passata and some chilli, cinnamon and cumin powder; then topped the whole thing with a little grated reduced fat Cheddar cheese and baked it in the oven until it was nicely browned. Love it when dinner is that easy. I did however, spend quite some time making a picnic for tomorrow's day out, so hopefully I am forgiven for my lack of culinary activity today. 

We did treat ourselves to small but syn free dessert this evening though: jelly with blueberries, topped with fat free yogurt.

ROAST TURKEY CARVERY

Once a week or so we take my dad out for a meal, nearly always to The Carvery Company at Cribbs Causeway. Roasts are not difficult to make but equally they are not the most exciting of meals to create either, so I thoroughly enjoy having someone else cook it all for me. Meat always tastes better and juicier from a larger joint I think, and if I was to cook such a meal for the three of us, we would end up eating leftovers for the rest of the week. By the time I would have bought all the vegetables, it would probably work out more expensive too – at £10 for two meals, it is really good value for money.

There is a choice of roast turkey, beef and pork at lunchtimes during the week, and vegetables include cauliflower cheese, roast parsnips, peas, leeks in a creamy sauce, peas, carrots and cabbage, so there is something for everyone, with a choice of roast or new potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire puddings and gravy as well as all the usual condiments: mustard, mint sauce, horseradish, cranberry sauce.

Since starting the Slimming World plan again this time, Husband and I have been feeling the cold much more, probably because of cutting right down on carbohydrates; but we both came out of the restaurant this lunchtime with a nice warm glow. 

SEARED SPRING ONIONS WITH POACHED EGG

I have never understood the concept that certain foods have to be eaten at certain times of the day, so I often find myself tucking into dishes first thing in the morning that most people would not consider 'suitable' for breakfast. This is possibly one of them. The recipe I adapted it from suggested it as a supper dish.

OK, I have to be honest here, and say that the consistency of the spring onion sauce initially reminded me a little too much of the glutinous okra side dishes so often served in West Africa and the Caribbean. I have a very adventurous palate, and enjoy an enormous range of tastes and consistencies, but glutinous is not one of them. However, once I got past the visual aspect of the sauce and actually tasted it, it was nothing like okra nor was it particularly glutinous.

Seared spring onions with poached egg.

Serves 2

Syn Free on Extra Easy

2 bunches spring onions

4 eggs

a little lemon juice

salt and pepper

Liquidise one of the spring onion bunches with the lemon juice, adding water until you get the consistency you want. Sear the other bunch of spring onions over a high heat in a little Fry Light. Poach the eggs to your liking and serve with the whole spring onions with a little sauce spooned over. 

Jerk Chicken Rice 'n' Peas

I felt like a jerk today. Jerk chicken that is.

The chicken breasts have been marinating for 48 hours – not because they needed that long, but because I started a day too early. It was great homing home tonight to find that most of the hard work for this evening's dinner had already been done – all I had to do was stick it in the oven and get the accompaniments ready.

Jerk Chicken Rice 'n' Peas

2 chicken breasts

1 small handful coriander leaves and a lime to serve

For the jerk seasoning

2 tbsp allspice berries
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
6 garlic cloves
4 spring onions, chopped
1 small bunch coriander
4 Scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded
1 small knob of fresh ginger
2 tbsp sweetener
3 tbsp lime juice

For the rice and peas

100g basmati rice
410g tin kidney beans
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 tsp ground allspice

For the melon pineapple salsa

¼ melon, chopped

¼ fresh pineapple, chopped

½ red onion, thinly sliced

salt and pepper to taste

juice of one lime

a little sweetener (optional)

Grind together the allspice, coriander and peppercorns until quite fine, then liquidise with all the other jerk ingredients until it forms a smooth paste. Place chicken breasts in a plastic bag and coat with the paste, giving them a good massage with your hands to ensure they are well coated. Refrigerate overnight.

Cook the chicken at 220°C for 20-30 minutes until cooked through. Boil the rice in the liquid from the tin of kidney beans with the garlic and allspice, adding water if necessary. For the last few minutes, add the beans to heat through. Mix all the salsa ingredients together.

Serve with your favourite chilli sauce on the side for those who like their food hot!

Leftover Meatloaf Hash with Jersey Royals

Today has been an easy day so far for the cook (me) – I had breakfast made for me, and lunch was leftovers.

He is anything but a cook, but my husband makes yummy bacon butties.

Leftover Meatloaf Hash with Jersey Royals

I can't really offer a recipe here, as I mostly used leftovers. I fried up a chopped onion in some Fry Light, then added the rest of the chopped meatloaf, a tin of tomatoes, the rest of a tube of tomato purée residing in the fridge and some garlic masala. Meanwhile I boiled some Jersey Royals, and lunch was done! Voilà!

I was glad to be able to use the garlic masala, as it has been bugging me ever since we bought it on our trip to Rajasthan. On hearing that I am a keen cook and love spices, our driver took us to a very touristy spice shop which mostly dealt in blended spices. I am not one for using pre-mixed spices, much preferring to combine my own according to my mood, but I was persuaded to buy a few packets of various masalas by the very friendly salesman. I was, however, dismayed to find that they were way more expensive than I could have bought them for back in Bristol at Bristol Sweetmart. Oh well, you live and learn. The masala was to be fair, very tasty. 

Radiatori with Pork and Mushrooms

 

My dad likes to help himself to food when he comes here, rather than being served, as he doesn’t eat very much, so pasta is ideal for this. Generally speaking it doesn't require much last minute preparation either, as my dad tends to turn up at least ten minutes, more often 15 minutes early. He rarely stays more than an hour, it is just a case of eat and go really – it used to drive my mum mad, as she always wanted to stay and chat.

Radiatori with Pork and Mushrooms

Serves 4

Syn Free on Extra Easy providing you use the cheese as Healthy Extra A

1 pork tenderloin fillet

200g mushrooms

3 onions

1 tub quark

1 tbsp bouillon powder

a little sweetener

a few drops of Worcestershire sauce

small bunch of basil, to serve

30g Parmesan cheese

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water for ten minutes. Meanwhile chop the onions, and pork, removing all visible fat as you go along. Slice the mushrooms. Fry the pork and onions in a little Fry Light until the pork is cooked through. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Drain the pasta, reserving the liquid. Turn the heat right down and add the quark, bouillon powder and sweetener to taste and Worcestershire sauce, thinning the sauce with the pasta water until you have a nice consistency, creamy but not too runny. Stir in the torn basil and serve with grated Parmesan cheese.