Broccoli Salad with Asian-Style Dressing

by Amy

Substitutions: None
Rating: 7

Does this photo look blurry to you? It's making my eyes hurt. Or maybe it's just the smoke from the pan-fried salmon searing my oversensitive eyes. Course I didn't eat the salmon, Stu did. And I am glad: I wanted it gone. I've just watched a documentary about over-fishing and every time I opened the fridge I felt compelled to apologise to it. I'M SORRY SALMON! I knew you were farmed but I didn't know smaller fish were being harvested to extinction just to feed you! It's not your fault! You were powerless! My sore eyes are NOTHING compared to what your kind have suffered!!

So... broccoli. This was quite nice. You eat it at room temperature which was slightly odd but, quite nice. I was skeptical at first because, when you make up the dressing, NO WAY does it seem like this tiny puddle of soy will be enough to dress a whole head of broccoli. Actually it does do the job but the flavour is not super strong. If you like delicate flavours then it's probably just right. Also, major bonus is that this is super low in pointage because there is only one teaspoon of oil in the whole recipe so I'll be revisiting this one soon I reckon.

Leek and Cheese Toastie

by Amy

Substitutions: None
Rating: 8

Stu said this was really nice. Having said that, packing cardboard would probably be really nice covered in butter, cheese and cream. This is not really about the leeks.

Very simple to make: two leeks, fry in butter, add cream and cheese, pour over toast, more cheese, grill. Ca va. Hugh says this is midweek friendly. It is. It is not artery friendly, but these things are fine in moderation, right?

This is the perfect choice if you're pushed for time and want to blow your daily caloric budget on some middle-class cheese on toast.

Summer Stir Fry with Egg Fried Rice

by Amy

Substitutions: None
Rating: 8

Today has been so sunny that I've been hankering after this one again. We made this the other Friday instead of a Chinese takeaway, as takeaways now taste too artificial to our hippified taste buds.

Really the Winter Stir Fry would have been more seasonal, but I'm a little hesitant to try that one again after I almost set our heads on fire due to a spice miscalculation. This looked like a safer option, all sweet green watery things like pak choi and peas and courgettes. Yum! It was an easy stir fry to like.

What really impressed me was the egg fried rice: namely how easy it was to make. Srsly I don't think we'll ever bother to buy the stuff ever again now I know all you need to do is push some cooked rice around a pan and crack an egg in it. This felt simultaneously like a treat and a health kick, something you definitely don't get from a takeaway. Recommended!

North African Squash and Chickpea Stew

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal spray, of course. That's all though.
Rating: 9

Looking at this photo in retrospect, I can see that this looks somewhat like vomit. Nevertheless my memory of this is unsullied: I honestly think this is one of the nicest tasting things I have ever made EVER.

Oh man, this was so delicious. Why was it so delicious? I'd made this once pre-blog, when it was perfecty fine but no nicer than I expect lentils, butternut squash and chickpeas to be (which is still quite nice actually, I love all those things). But this time I just wanted to eat it forever.

I think it was the saffron: last time, I didn't have it. This time I did, and it tasted amazing. I used it in the Chachouka: just a tomato ragout, really, but with saffron in? Amazing. I don't even know what saffron tastes like, I can't pick it out as a flavour, it just makes things taste better. I think it just tastes of amazing.

This is a shame considering it's the most expensive spice in the world. Damn you, Hugh! This stuff is sold by the unheaped teaspoon and has a security tag attached to it at Tesco.

I will make this again and again.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

by Amy

Substitutions:
Dried coriander, not fresh
1 Cal spray, not olive oil
I added carrots

Rating: 7

Hugh describes this as a "lovely, light curry" and after making pesto I was ready for a recipe that didn't give me calorie anxiety. I am in safe hands with Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry. This appears from its ingredients, and to some degree tastes, like a curry that's had its one really nice ingredient removed. You know, whatever it is that elevates cauliflower, tinned tomatoes and spices to something deliciously complete. It's probably coconut milk, or like, ghee. Or cream.

This has none of those things and therefore just tastes like cauliflower, tinned tomatoes and spices, but in the realm of calorie controlled cooking it's really very competitive. I mean, this is the second time I've made it which is the greatest compliment you can pay a recipe, right? It's largely down to the spices which work very well together. Except the star anise. Why do I keep buying that stuff when I don't like the taste? Because it's pretty, obviously. I guess I'll just leave it on my shelf, looking posh, next time. I think that's all I ever wanted it to do anyway.

Plus points: this is one of the speediest curries I've ever made. You parboil the cauli while you're chopping the rest of the veg so that once you've got all the stuff in the same pan it only needs simmering for 5-10 minutes. What this tight schedule does not allow time for is sauce thickening; like water, it was. Very unappetising. I know, I should have used oil. I cracked and got the cornflour out--that sorted it. I'm not sure if that's allowed or not. Can someone ask Hugh?

Lastly, the issue of vegetable sizing reared its ugly head again. Hugh thinks a medium-large cauliflower weighs about 800g. I weighed mind: 376g. Does Hugh pump his vegetables with growth hormones or something? I thought he was supposed to be organic. Anyway, to compensate for my cauliflower inadequacy I added some carrots. They worked fine.

Pasta with New Potatoes, Green Beans and Pesto

by Amy

Substitions: None!
Rating: 9

Full disclosure: I did not actually eat this. I would have loved to, obviously, I am a sucker for plates of green food, but I'm off the parmesan. I mostly just wanted to make my own pesto because believe it or not, despite mixing almost exclusively with middle-class people who work in publishing, I have never done so before.

This recipe makes up a whole jam jar of pesto. I took some time between the pesto making and pasta cooking to admire my homemade jam jar of pesto. I considered how useful it could be in other situations, sitting in the fridge for emergency weeknight dinners. I felt useful and smug. A few observations on the pesto making:

1. I can see that this is potentially cheaper than buying your own pesto: IF you have a herb garden. Otherwise, not. Maybe even more expensive.

2. It was quick! I just threw the ingredients into the food processor and, well I think the technical term is "wazzed it up"?

3. Hugh calls for leaves only, not stalks, on the herb front. He did not explain why, so in went the stalks. It's all getting wazzed up anyway.

Considering how much olive oil I had to glug in to get it to the right consistency, I assumed I wouldn't need to use my whole jam jar of pesto. I did though. In bed later, I will probably work out the number of calories per serving of this, which is the only mental arithmetic I am capable of doing, and it will bring on a panic attack.

Once the pesto was made the rest was very straightforward indeed. Slicing the new potatoes so thin seemed a bit faffy but it meant they cooked in the same time as the pasta so it was an efficient move in the end. The green beans went into the same pot seven minutes in: bonus points for reduced washing up, after I've spattered pesto everywhere. Then it's just a matter of mixing the pesto in and grating some cheese on top.

I had to leave the score in Stu's hands, and he scored this higher than he's scored anything yet. He said he was pleased to be eating something he recognised for a change. Here he is enjoying his pasta and pesto:

There's loads left over which I'm thinking will make good lunchbox fare. Next time I'll try it with less oil, adding some water instead, and without parmesan to make it Amy friendly. I can't pretend I wasn't jealous. It smelt amazing!

Pinto Bean Chilli: Mark II!

by Amy

Substitutions: That's right, this is pinto bean free! Having been inspired by other subs, this has both butter beans and kidney beans.

Rightso this is just a mini-post because I know we have pretty much exhausted the whole pinto bean chilli conversation and we have all moved on etc. I just made this again for some people who came over for dinner and I thought I'd take a snap of the leftovers in proof of its sauce thickness. For why? I used olive oil! PROPER REAL OLIVE OIL. Just look at the shine on this bitch.

It tasted about 15% nicer than the previous times I'd made it. I suppose my 1 Cal spray addiction is tanamount to a cooking disability. Will defo be cracking open the olive oil for guests in future.

Also, the bean choices here were an absolute winner. Butter beans! Nicely done, Rhys.

Chickpea, Chard and Porcini Soup

by Amy

Substitutions:
1 Cal spray for the butter and olive oil
I used spinach instead of chard. Hugh said I could though.
Dried rosemary instead of fresh

Rating: 6.5

You might have noticed that I give decimal-point ratings to the food I find slightly unfathomable and this is no exception. It wasn't complicated to make (save the porcini-soaking; I mention this mainly to Carol the soak-dodger) and the ingredients were easily available. It's the taste.

I don't know why either, really. Passata's easy to like and I know from my stoup adventures that I like porcini stock. I think I just found them strange soupfellows. You spoon this stuff into your gob expecting familiar tomatoey sweetness and you get this dark pungent hit in the aftertaste and it catches you by surprise. It's like tomato soup... with a dark side. I realise I'm now making it sound totally glamorous and cool when it's actually just damp spinach in mushroom water.

Having said that, to be eliciting such a reaction from me must mean it's quite flavourful, which is impressive considering it's only got a handful of ingredients in it--and is fat free. So I think it is good in its own evil way. But I'll be crossing the street to avoid it in future.

Spiced Spinach and Potatoes

by Amy

Substitutions:
No oil. Obv.
Although Stu had his with double cream. I had WW creme fraiche

Rating: 7

So I made this last week or something (I know, I know--I've been slacking) and though it's now all hazed out in my memory I recall no drama in the making. It was pretty straightforward. Mostly I wanted to make it because it looked almost identical to the New Potato and Spinach Curry, only without a) the overly complicated herb/spice sorcery and b) that pastel pink headfuck sauce.

Happy to report that this is exactly what it was, which confirmed my suspicions that all that cardomom pod-bashing time spent on the New Potato and Spinach Curry was time I should have spent painting my nails. Stu's observation was that the double cream Hugh suggested we stir in was luxurious but borderline sickly. Not a problem I had with my low fat creme fraiche, obviously.

This is in the mezze/tapas section, but it went very well with rice, I thought, and served 2 comfortably as a main.

Mushroom Risoniotto

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal spray for oil and butter (tragic, I know)
Weight Watchers creme fraiche for the proper stuff: actually very effective! Pleased.

Rating: 9

There are some things about "eating a plant-based diet" that I struggle with, and chief among them is the number of meals I make that make me earnestly wish for a Hazmat suit. I fucking hate chopping onions. Onions are out to get me. Every meal I make starts by slicing up the little twats and they get their revenge by napalming me so that I spend the rest of my kitchen time facially puffed and crying into the saucepan. I'll wipe a tear from my eye, and my eye will catch FIRE because in addition to chopping an onion I've also just minced a stupid chilli. Vegetables aren't as helpless as they pretend to be.

Enter Mushroom Risoniotto, a totally onion, chilli and even garlic-free recipe. Not even the mind-numbing repetition of making a standard risotto: all that interminable stirring that continues until you develop tennis elbow? Not here. This was so quick: fry some shrooms, boil up some pasta, mix together with some creme fraiche. In your FACE, rice! I don't need you any more.

There is no stock in this at all so I half expected it to be dry, and also a bit boring, due to having so few ingredients but it totally wasn't. It was delicious. And quick, and fairly cheap. And not hazardous to my face!

Man, this works on so many levels. I might end up making this once a week.

Puy Lentil and Beetroot Salad

by Amy

Substitutions: None

Rating: 7

Blech. This salad looks like the Bog of Eternal Stench. So not photogenic. But oh so charming in person.

What you are looking at is Stu's packed lunch for w/c 30th Jan. It has roasted beetroot in it, and soft goat's cheese, and lentils, and olive oil, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. That's it! Well easy, and it tastes yum. Not in an "I suppose this is ok for hippy food" way. Literal yum. I just hope Stu's schoolfriends don't pick on him for having a hippy's lunch box.

Ribollita

by Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal Spray, blah blah

Rating: 3

Mmmm. Looks good right? I confess, if I hadn't been on a diet I wouldn't have given this the time of day. It's beans and cabbage spooned onto stale bread: this is one low-spec meal. Nevertheless, one side effect of sensory deprivation is lowered standards and so I started eyeing up the picture in the book with the saucer-eyes of the hungry.

This, despite the fact that even HUGH calls it peasant food. But peasant food from Italy! Well, that's different then. Italians know their food. I can only imagine this is because they spend half their day preparing it because that's how long this "store cupboard supper" took. I had to soak the beans overnight, then cook them for an hour and a half, and then boil them up for another HOUR with the rest of the soup ingredients.

To me this reeks of poor project management. Why not just put the beans in the soup raw and let all the ingredients cook at the same time? I know you're asking me to puree half of them before chucking them in but this is what hand blenders were invented for. This soup can easily be achieved in half the time. There you are, Italy: I've just doubled your productivity. I hope it helps your economy.

I think, had I wasted less time on this slop, I would be less critical of it because it really didn't taste bad. It was satisfying and warming and all those soupy things. I also learnt a brilliant instant garlic bread tip: just wipe your toast with a clove of garlic and give it a sniff. Do it! It will REEK. Couldn't believe how effective that was.

Bread aside though, what I have just consumed is basically cabbage water, and the last thing you want to be reminded of when you're on a calorie controlled diet is that you're eating the same food as Charlie Bucket did before he found the golden ticket. The only circumstances under which I'll make this again is if I'm really really skint.

Warm Salad of Mushrooms and Roasted Squash

by Amy

Substitions: 1 Cal spray instead of the ONE HUNDRED MILLILETRES of olive oil to roast the squash
Mixed leaves instead of the dreaded rocket


Rating: 7

I love butternut squash so much. I think it might be one of my favourite foods. Obviously not my literal favourite food, that would be ridiculous*, but of all the things I can eat with wild abandon without sinking into a pit of self-loathing, vomiting and/or breaking out in adult acne, BNS is right up there.

Squash happens to be having "a moment" in the world of vegetable fashion (yes, there are fashionable vegetables! Stop laughing) which means that to my delight there are LOADS of squash recipes in Veg Everyday. This is a warm salad--I'm not sure where warm salads came from but if in doubt, blame Ottolenghi--comprising basically of roasted squash, fried mushrooms and stilton on a bed of leaves with a balsamic dressing.

Proper easy it was. Not even that much chopping involved! This felt like a night off.

But what of the taste: Well, it was nice, because all the ingredients were nice. There was a balanced mix of sharpness and sweetness from the stilton, roast squash and balsamic, but the whole thing together was a bit, well... mushy. Some toasted nuts and/or seeds could have provided a nice contrasting crunch. 

Also the fried mushrooms just totally didn't feel right in a salad. It's like they'd arrived at the salad and were hanging out there just to be polite, but secretly they were despising the company of every other ingredient on the plate and pining for their fried egg mates.

Anyway. I might make this again but I'll be ringing the changes: ie some pumpkin seeds on top--and possibly raw baby button mushrooms? I am so boring.

* Milkshake

New Potato and Spinach Curry

by Amy

Substitutions: Well, this is supposed to be made with Swiss chard but spinach is a Hugh-approved variant. And I could only find spinach in Tesco, so spinach it was. Also, I cracked out the 1 Cal spray as usual, this curry was an oil-free zone.

Omissions: Mustard seeds. Didn't have em, wasn't about to buy em for the sake of a quarter teaspoon.


Rating: 6

I just don't know what to make of this curry. It started out in the usual way, you know the one, that challenges all four corners of your spice rack and has you pounding together fresh grated ginger, chilli and garlic until you think "This is a MAGIC POTION! With this concoction I can make FIRE!"

When you eat it, you wonder whether a tablespoon of Lidl curry powder wouldn't have tasted identical--but I am still pounding the garlic, and then I'm adding water and potatoes and eventually watching several mountains of spinach wilt into mulch.

So far, so currylike. Then I have to stir tomato puree into a pot of yogurt and mix it into the pan with the veg. It is PINK. The photograph in the book did *not* prepare me for this. I haven't cooked many curries and I couldn't say whether this is common practice, but whatever way you look at it, what we have here is potatoes and spinach in marie-rose sauce, and that is WEIRD.

I conceal the marie-rose sauce with a scattering of coriander and serve it to the boy, who proclaimed it, and I quote, "one of my better ones", probably due to being colour blind. I think it might have tasted quite nice but I was too confused to judge it fairly.

Quick Chickpea Pasta

by Amy

Substitutions: None


Rating: 5

You could argue that this barely qualifies as a recipe (I mean, it's tinned chickpeas and pasta mixed together, I'm not making a croquembouche here) but this is what attracted me to Quick Chickpea Pasta. I was looking for a no-brainer to fill the boyfriend's lunchbox with, and though Hugh recommends this "wholesome, hearty and quick" supper be served hot, I thought this would make a basic, economical tupperware filler.

Which it does. It's not like this isn't fit for purpose although there are a a few ways Quick Chickpea Pasta could be a lot quicker. Hugh had me slivering garlic and mincing chilli and frying them oh so gently in a little pool of the olive oil I'm dressing the peas 'n' pasta with like some sort of... cook. Or something. At least, he did the first time I made this. This time I wised up and didn't sliver the garlic, just squashed it and took it out at the end, leaving the oil garlic infused but actual garlic free! Look at me, innovating. YEAH. I still faffed about with the chilli though. Of course, Nigella would just take bottled garlic and chilli oil out of her posh pantry and skip this step altogether, and if I had done the same I guess I wouldn't be screaming in pain right now having touched my eyes with my fingers. That stuff is dangerous!

As to the taste of the stuff, it is about as nice as chickpeas and pasta are. Not more than the sum of its parts. Although I did manage to elevate the experience with the use of ANIMAL SHAPED PASTA.

Mushroom Stoup

By Amy

Substitutions: 1 Cal spray instead of butter and oil to soften the onions
30g butter for 50g vegetable suet (what is vegetable suet)

Rating: 8.5

"Stoup" presumably because it's both soupy and stewy? Like when Ringo Starr was asked whether he was a mod or a rocker, and he answered "I'm a mocker". That Hugh--he just WON'T be pigeonholed.

Whatever category this falls into, it tasted lush--seriously lush. I was feeling adventurous and in need ot stodge so I made the optional dumplings. The consistency was all thick and satisfying, not brothy like I expected--probably because half the dumplings disintegrated while they were cooking. Also it tasted rich and dark and earthy because you soak the mushrooms first and then use them as a stock, so this is totally comforting dark-winter-night food. It was really filling too.

One small criticism: this is not a budget dish. I spent three whole pounds on dried porcini mushrooms for this dish, and that doesn't even include the 500g of bog standard mushrooms I had to put in there. You can't get away without using them either because it's the porcini mushrooms that make the stock. That's the only reason this recipe won't be in regular rotation round at mine but I'll mos def make it again at some point.

Boyfriend's review: "This is very mushroomy."

Pinto Bean Chilli with Lemon Guacamole!

Pinto Bean Chilli with Lemony Guacamole!
by Amy

Pinto Bean Chilli
Substitutions: 200g dried cannellini beans instead of the tin of pinto beans
One extra pepper
Dried oregano instead of fresh
Rating: 8

So maybe I'll never be a professional food photographer but believe it or not this was pretty lush. Pinto beans are proper hard to get hold of so I used cannellini, which is also a white bean. Next time I might use kidney beans; they have a floury stodginess that I think would work better with the spices, which is probly why kidney beans are the "definitive" chilli bean. Why fight convention, Hugh?

Note: There were a LOT of fresh herbs in this which made it more expensive than it would otherwise be. Dried is probably fine. Incidentally, is coriander an authentic Mexican herb? We seem to be throwing it in everything nowadays.

Lemony Guacamole
Substitutions: none
Rating: 6

Oh si si, me gusta guacamole MUCHOS! Actually the guac wasn't so hot and mostly tasted of lemons. I mean, I like lemons, but everything in its proper place. Maybe the clue is in the title but, in Stu's words, "avocados are expensive so it would be good to be able to taste them". Juice of one whole lemon, Hugh? Let's not go overboard. I couldn't even taste the coriander. TBF maybe I just had an unusually juicy lemon. Next time I'll add juice of just half a lemon, and pause to taste.