Come on in, the watercress is fine...

So Hugh FW has decided to go on about watercress this weekend. As well he should - it's coming into it's own this time of year, and - in contrast to just about everything else green and seasonal in March - it's got a striking flavour all its own.

I personally love a bit of peppery watercress, though I'm not a big fan of it in a salad on it's own. The bitterness can be just a bit too much. Where it's at it's yummiest is in a sandwich with fish (as Hugh FW mentions in the link above) or in a straightforward honest soup.

Two weeks ago for Mothering Sunday I served watercress soup as a first course and it went down a treat. There are many good versions out there (I quite like Delia's to use to get you thinking), and I've settled on these proportions, with the addition of silky natural yogurt at the end.

Watercress soup 

(serves 4 as a starter, serves 2 as a lunch)

2 bags of watercress, with stalks removed (use in a stock later ideally)
30 g reduced fat butter + 1 tbsp olive oil
2 large/3 medium leeks, chopped (with dark green/yellow parts removed)
500 g potato, peeled and chopped into cubes
2 tbsp bouillon powder + 1.25 l freshly boiled water (or 1.25 l of your own stock)
100 g natural low-fat yogurt 

a few reserved leaves for garnish
salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Do all the ingredient prep before you start cooking - time will then fly by. Heat the butter/oil in a large pot and add the watercress, potato and leeks. Season with pepper and allow to cook over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes.

Like in Delia's recipe, add the stock and bring to a simmer (a light simmer) and let continue like that for about 15 minutes. Use a hand-blender to puree the soup.

Now, you could eat the soup like this, but on special occasions, I like to strain the soup, and this one's an easy one to do. In batches, put the soup through a strainer (a fine metal colander will do) and use the back of a wooden spoon to get all of the liquid through.

Return it all to the pot (making sure it's off the heat) and mix through 3/4 of the natural yogurt and season well. Put the pot back on a very low heat and serve immediately. (If you aren't ready to serve immediately, do the yogurt at the last minute.)

Garnish with a last daub of yogurt, a few leaves of watercress, and a last grind of pepper.

Calories: I didn't add them up, but it's got to be pretty low. And if it's good enough for Liz Hurley and John Lydon, it's good enough for you.

New cake alert: lemon and almond

Apple cake, pear cake, apple cake, pear cake. I love 'em, but I'm getting tired of them. So this morning I went trawling for a new cake to make. I felt like having something fruity, which isn't easy given it's the middle of winter.

I considered upside-down peach cake, but using tinned peaches just didn't grab me. Then I considered coffee and walnut cake, but the coffee it calls for tends to be instant, and I don't have instant. (Cos I'm fancy.)

Finally I settled on lemon and almond cake. This one excited me for several reasons:

1) it's fruity, and I don't feel guilty buying lemons in winter. it uses the entire lemon, so no waste.
2) it's healthy - low-calorie (comparatively) and doesn't use any fats from butter/oil
3) it uses ground almonds almost entirely in place of flour, which I've been wanting to try because I'm close to overdosing on flour what with constant breadmaking.
4) it uses fructose instead of regular sugar, so it's not quite as likely to give you sugar shock
5) because I'm a sad sad lady and cakes make me happy, so there.

The recipe (here, if you missed it above) is very simple to follow, and I quite like it for the short list of ingredients (eggs, ground almonds, fruit sugar, lemons, flour, baking powder). The one thing to be careful about here, as it says on the website, is that fruit sugar burns more easily, so you need to watch it about 45 minutes in to make sure it doesn't blacken.

The recipe says 12-16 servings, but if that's true, the serving-size is for tiny little elves. And a tiny little elf I'm not. It serves 9, to my mind, bringing the calories to approximately 285 per slice, which is respectable enough to be tasty, yet low enough not to be overly indulgent. And it's so good with a cup of tea on a Sunday afternoon. I've officially added a new cake to the rotation.

Recipe for pumpkin, cannelini bean and tomato soup with bacon

There needs to be a rule in October and November: one must incorporate pumpkin into your meals and daily activities at least once a week. Roast seeds? Check. Carve jack-o-lantern? Check. Make soup, curry, cannelloni, and whatever else you can extract from that big and beautiful orangeness? Check.

The latest adventure with pumpkin is soup-based, but the pumpkin is roasted first. I think this is pretty important, actually – like marrow, pumpkin can be a little flavourless if not infused with the right, well, flavours.

So a little pumpkin, acidified with a few tomatoes, proteined-up with some cannellini beans, and made meaty with a few rashers of bacon, was rather nice in my opinion. (And by the way, the bacon is completely optional, should you choose to eschew it.)

Pumpkin, cannellini bean and tomato soup with bacon

(serves 3)

1 kg raw pumpkin (skin on is fine), in slices

2 tsp + 1 tsp olive oil

200 g leeks, chopped

3 plum tomatoes, chopped

1 tin of cannellini beans, drained

1 tbsp of bouillon powder mixed with 1 litre of freshly boiled water

a few stalks’ worth of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme

4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Add the pumpkin and 2 tsp of oil to a foil-lined roasting tin and roast for 1 hr, turning halfway through. (This can be done ahead of time if you like.)

Add the final tsp of oil to a pot, and gently fry the bacon until slightly crispy, then remove and set on a piece of kitchen roll to soak up excess oil.

Add the leeks to the pot and saute them for a few minutes, before adding the cannellini beans and thyme. Season and stir, then add the hot stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.

When the pumpkin is ready, remove the skins if they seem too tough, then chop the roasted pumpkin into bite-size cubes. Add to the pot, along with the chopped tomatoes. Season again, then allow to simmer for another 20 minutes before serving in big bowls – top with the bacon, if you want it, or you could add a dollop of crème fraiche or set yogurt. Give it a final crack of black pepper and a pinch of sea salt and you’re sorted.

I’ve found 1 serving works for me, though my husband’s stomach wants something more like 2 servings (plus bread, of course). But the protein in the beans and the carbs in the pumpkin will sustain you easily throughout the evening.

The bottom line…

One serving, without bacon: 227 cals

One serving, with bacon: 292 cals

Double serving, without bacon: 454 cals

Double serving, with bacon: 584 cals

I really like how versatile this soup is –you can easily add things at the end to make it more appealing to someone with hungry eyes (and stomach). The only thing I’d do differently next time is chop the pumpkin into smaller pieces (given feedback from the husband). But despite this, he left not a drop of his double serving with bacon …

Smackerel fishcakes, a great recipe for summer

Is smoked mackerel an acquired taste? I suppose it is – it’s such a strong flavour, a wonderful flavour in my opinion, but it must put some people off.

But it’s worth extolling the virtues of smoked mackerel (which I’ll lovingly shorten to ‘Smackerel’ in the grand tradition of celebrity couple nicknames a la Brangelina or TomKat). It’s cheap – you can get a good 250 g of it for less than £2.

And a little goes a long way both flavour and calorie wise. It’s not to be denied that it’s quite high in calories/fat – but it’s the “good” fat, a phrase so many nutritionists love to spout. It’s full of those lovely fish oils that assist in brain function (and at the moment, I need all the help I can get.

But the fact that 50g of mackerel brings in about 150 calories (compare to 38 cals per 50 g in plaice) means that it’s a blessing that a little goes a long way. And to be honest, that’s all you need for a fairly hearty fishcake in this recipe. One fishcake for me was plenty, though my husband was happier with two.

Smoked mackerel fishcakes with runner beans and sweetcorn

(serves 2)

150 g smoked mackerel

200 g potatoes, peeled and ready to boil or 300 g potatoes already boiled

2 spring onions, sliced

salt and pepper

a drop of milk or cream – anything to hand really

spray olive oil to lightly coat the foil

400 g runner beans, sliced

2 cobs of sweetcorn

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes (or until you can pierce easily with a fork) and allow to cool slightly. Mash, adding a drop of cream or milk. Season with salt and pepper.

Next, break up the strips of mackerel with your fingers and drop into the mash, along with the sliced spring onions.

Here’s where you get your hands dirty: using your fingers, mix all the ingredients together, ensuring you get a good consistency. Roll the mixture into three balls and place on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway through.

While they’re cooking, prepare your veg – because it’s summer I’ve gone with sweetcorn and runner beans, which I steamed.

Serve immediately – because mackerel is such a strong flavour, I didn’t need an extra sauce, though my husband did enjoy the extra dollop of mayo I gave him.

Calories: 300 for a fishcake, a generous helping of runner beans and a cob of sweetcorn.

I recommended this to a friend as well and it's gone down a treat.

Another work lunch, with a summery twist

First I overegged myself. Now I’m bordering on having over-potatoed myself too. I need a change, so it’s ironic, then, that this week I return to the staple that I first started my work lunches with maybe three years ago: chickpeas.

Chickpeas are good little things: they’re filling, low-GI, very transportable, etc. Too much chickpea is a bad thing – but what isn’t?

I've tarted the chickpea up with a Greek-inspired ingredients (though no red onion, a lunchtime no-no). Cucumbers, black olives, feta, and sun-dried tomatoes, all topped with a lemon-oregano vinaigrette. Very tasty and light, but packed with flavour. And very good for outdoor eating.

Greek-style chickpea salad
(makes 5 servings)

2 tins chickpeas, rinsed and drained
½ tin black olives in brine, halved
100 g of dried sun-dried tomatoes (not the ones in oil), soaked in warm water and rinsed
100 g feta, crumbled or cubed in small pieces
300 g cucumber, deseeded and chopped
1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly

for the vinaigrette:
1 tbsp oregano
juice of two lemons
1 tbsp olive oil

Combine the first six ingredients in a large Tupperware. Make the vinaigrette and drizzle over the salad. Close the container and shake to ensure the dressing covers the entire salad.

Scoop out 1/5 of the salad each day for lunch

Calories: 265 per serving.

Roasted plums with vanilla ice cream

When our friends Marcella and Grant came over for the weekend, I wanted to prepare a light dessert to follow our Sunday roast – something refreshing, but not just plain fruit (lovely though it is).

I love poached pears, but it’s not the right season. It is, however, the beginning of soft fruit season, and plums, nectarines and peaches are beginning to line the shelves in the supermarket. Since they’re not quite at their best, a quick turn in the oven should bring out the best of their sweet tartness.

I decided to go with plums this time around, mainly because they are smaller. It’s really easy – and turned out to be absolutely perfect. This recipe serves four, but it’s easily halved.

Roasted plums with cinnamon and honey
(serves 4)

8 plums
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp cinnamon

600 g light vanilla pod ice cream

Halve and stone the plums and arrange, cut side up, on a baking dish. Drizzle the honey over and sprinkle the cinnamon on top of that. Roast for 35 minutes at 170 C.

Serve on top of the ice cream.

Calories per serving: 275. And soooooo yummy.

a more appealing work lunch idea

I've been quite budget conscious lately, and my lunch has often borne the brunt of it. And last week I think I hit my limit with the boiled egg + carbohydrate + salad combo.

Something a bit nicer was in order - something that would taste lovely, be healthy, and hold me over until dinner time (or at least until late afternoon snack time).

Cue frozen salmon. Added to the potato salad with a lovely, tartar-sauce inspired dressing, and you're good to go. To be safe, I've cooked the salmon in two batches - I'm not sure exactly how long it will keep for in the fridge. (If anyone knows, do tell!)

Salmon with tartar-sauced potato salad
(makes 5 lunch-sized portions)

500 g frozen salmon
500 g baby new potatoes
50 g light mayonnaise
75 g gherkins, chopped
25 g capers, chopped
juice of one lemon
handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Prepare the salmon according to the instructions on the package (generally about 30 minutes at 190 C) and allow to cool.

Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes, and then submerge into ice water to stop them cooking. Remove and allow to cool.

While the potatoes are cooling, make the dressing - add the gherkins, capers, mayonnaise, parsley and lemon. When the potatoes are ready, add to the dressing and make sure they are combined well.

Each morning, spoon out 1/5 of the potato salad mixture and 100 g of the salmon. Enjoy - it won't be a huge portion, but the salmon is so filling that it will last you through the afternoon without a problem.

Calories per serving: about 290

(By the way, I've not used many veggies here - like baby spinach - this week. I think baby spinach, like egg, is on my "tired-of" list at the moment.)

So yes, salmon isn't cheap. But I think if you can keep your eye out for salmon that's close to its sell-by date, and freeze it, you're laughing. Or look for deals - this week, Tesco was offering 3 packs of fresh salmon for £10.

Young's frozen salmon (500 g) was about £4.49, the potatoes cost about £1.29, and I keep capers, gherkins, lemon and mayo as a norm in my cupboard. Divide that by £5, and lunch cost about £1.16/day. How's that for classy?

easter monday and a fish and tapenade recipe

Just recuperating after a lovely food-filled Easter. First, leeks vinaigrette and smoked salmon canapes. Next, my mother-in-law and I had a gorgeous bit of halibut poached in lemon and olive oil (everyone else went for lamb) alongside too many different veggies to count. Finally - a gorgeous chocolate mousse, made from scratch.

I woke up this morning with a pained stomach. To be clear, I enjoyed every minute of it - but my stomach was straining under the sheer magnitude of food.

Today, something light and fresh was needed for dinner. And something easy, if you're still a bit sluggish from all the chocolate.

Baked haddock with homemade green olive tapenade and purple sprouting broccoli
(serves 2)

2 large fillets of haddock, skin-on (between 175-200 g each)
1 small carrot
5-6 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed
1 tin of anchovies in olive oil, drained
10 green olives in brine, drained
zest of 1 small lemon
200 g purple sprouting broccoli

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Combine the carrot, thyme, anchovies, green olives and lemon zest in a food processor and pulse until you have an even consistency. Use a pallet knife to spread evenly atop each fillet of fish.

Bake the fish on a foil-lined baking tray for 20 minutes. With 10 minutes left, steam the broccoli.

Serve immediately with a lemon wedge.

Calories: 300. A filling, satisfying and very clean 300 calories. Plenty for me for the rest of the night (though Pete is heading back to the Mars egg even as I type.)

more credit-crunch busting lunch salad ideas

I've been experimenting with a few other salad ideas that make for five easy weekday lunches. I'm going to go the mass-produced sandwich route and give them "zany", "quirky" names, that all end in "surprise"! Now that's quirky.

"Springtime surprise"
500g potatoes
300g broad beans
100g fresh French goats cheese
Handful of mint
1 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1/2 lemon
150g baby leaf salad5 boiled eggs

Calories per serving: 263
Verdict: loved this salad on Monday, Tuesday, and oh, half of Wednesday. After that I started to lose interest.

"Peppy pesto surprise"
500g potatoes
3 red peppers, chopped
150g chicken
90g green pesto
350g green beans, steamed and blanched
5 boiled eggs

Calories per serving: 275
Verdict: quite nice actually. The choice to forgo the spinach was rather inspired, in my humble opinion. Would definitely do again.

"Bouncy bulghur surprise"
1 tin of cherry tomatoes, juices drained
1 green pepper, deseeded and chopped
100g feta
150 g bulghur wheat, prepared as per instructions
25 sweet hot pickled peppers (like peppadew)
1 tsp dried oregano
150g spinach
5 boiled eggs

Calories per serving: 283
Verdict: Probably the tastiest of the lot. But, like couscous, bulghur wheat can make you feel a bit bloated sometimes. But worth having again.

lunch idea: a yummy and healthy potato salad

Okay, so I’m sick of chickpeas, tired of couscous. Have no time for pitta bread. I’ve been running out of ideas for a simple work lunch that will keep my attention and my stomach full. It needs to be cheap, easy to reproduce and about 300 calories. Here’s my latest idea, and I think it works well:

Salad with chicken, baby potatoes, peas, spinach, feta, boiled egg and lemon-parsley dressing
serves 5 (Monday to Friday)

250 g frozen peas, boiled and blanched
75 g wafer thin chicken, sliced
100 g feta cheese, crumbled
500 g salad potatoes, boiled
100 g cucumber, deseeded and chopped
5 medium eggs, boiled and blanched
150 g baby spinach

for the dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon

Combine the first five ingredients in a large container with a top. Make the dressing by blitzing the three required ingredients with a hand blender and add to the container. Mix through. Chill in the refrigerator.

Each morning, scoop out 1 of the portions of the potato salad and add to a Tupperware dish with one egg and 30 g baby spinach. All of the ingredients will last the week.

Calories per serving: 296

bristol apple cider cake

I think I’m catching a baking bug – but it’s a fruit-inspired baking bug, so that’s okay, right? RIGHT?? I hope so anyway.

Now that apples from this side of the world are available (i.e. not South Africa), I’m ready to jump on the apple bandwagon, especially since a friend of mine brought some apples back from her family's garden in Bristol. Not pies, not crumble, not cobbler – I’m into cake. A spiced cake, I thought, and one with cider. So I took to the internet and found some potential starting points:

-This Epi recipe sounded really good, until I realised that I’d forgotten that when American recipes say cider, they mean non-alcoholic cider. Well, I’d already bought the “hard” cider in, so I headed across the internet pond back to the BBC website…

-where I found this recipe from Simon Rimmer, the sweet little bald Mancunian chef who now’s on Something from the Weekend. I liked this one a lot – though I have no need for the cinnamon mascarpone (though it does sound lovely). Actually, as I’ve gotten older I’ve increasingly steered away from icings in favour of the cake, though I remember the days of being six when I’d only eat the icing…

Anyway, I reduced the amount of flour, sugar and butter by 1/6 (not quite confident yet at baking to mess with measurements too much), cut the amount of sultanas/raisins by 3/4 (not so keen) and dropped pecans from the recipe completely (unnecessary, in my opinion).

The result? A yummy, delicately spiced cake with loads of flavour. The whole cake (8 in x 8 in) makes about 9 pieces of cake, which are about 300 calories each.

mini-mezze

Tonight it was wine tasting night - pinot noir at that. After interviewing six excellent wines, I came to the professional decision that the most expensive one was the best. Brilliance, I tell you.

But after such lovely wines, nothing but the best produce would do. I wasn't in the mood to cook much of anything, but seeing as I've rededicated myself to simple food at home, I dutifully headed home for dinner.

I went straight for the veggies: namely, aubergine and courgette. These soft, delicate vegetables are getting better by the day.

Simple preparation serves these vegetables best: roast the halved aubergine with a few sprays of olive oil, and finely chop the courgette and mix with fat-free yogurt. Once the aubergine is ready, spread a thin film of harissa over the flesh. Serve together.

I'd be happy (I have been happy) to serve these two as part of a larger mezze - but not tonight. And luckily I didn't have to cook for anyone else - while I was busy elegantly tasting wines, my husband was tucking into a kebab.

the best meal i've cooked in a while

Brace yourself: this is going to be fantastic. Not to pat myself on the back, but this dinner was beautiful - with such a lovely combination of subtle flavours and sweet winter notes.

You'll need:

fresh haddock loins
portobello mushrooms
parsnips
curly kale
walnut oil

Now if those five ingredients haven't tantalised you enough, perhaps you should stop there. But if you like what you just saw, read on:

Foil-baked haddock and mushroom parcels with parsnip puree and steamed curly kale
(serves 2)

Preheat the oven to 185 C. Prepare the foil packets: spray with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add a haddock loin to each. Season again. Slice two portobello mushrooms and add to the packets. Drizzle 1 tsp of walnut oil in each packet. Seal and bake for 25 minutes.

Peel and chop the parsnips and boil for about five minutes. Drain; add salt. Return to the pan and add 1 tsp of olive oil to coat. Season with white pepper. Puree with a hand blender and ensure the mixture is smooth. Keep warm.

Place the curly kale in a steamer and cook for 6 minutes.

To serve, spoon the parsnip puree onto the plate.

Remove the haddock from the oven and use a spatula to transfer the fish to the plate, allowing it to rest on the puree. Add the mushrooms. Split the kale evenly between the two plates. Drizzle the juices from the foil over the entire plate.

You'll love this - the flavours are rich but light. Layer a mushroom, some puree, some kale and a chunk of fish on a fork and just let it rest on your tongue.

Possibly the only way I'd tart this dish up a bit would be to add toasted walnuts to the top of the fish before serving.

And its soooo healthy: 125 g haddock, with 250 g parsnips and 100 g kale, prepared as above is only 300 calories! Can you believe it?

mushroom and courgette frittata with goats cheese

Frittatas are the grown up glamourous older sister to scrambled eggs. And they are just as easy and extremely versatile.

Try this one:

(serves 2)
250 g chestnut mushrooms, de-stemmed and sliced
1 large courgette, sliced into rounds and then quartered
3-4 shallots, peeled and sliced
3 medium eggs
a splash of skimmed milk
salt and pepper
olive oil spray
50-75 g creamy French goats cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan and add the mushrooms, courgettes and shallots over medium/medium-high heat. Season, cover and allow to sweat for about five minutes.

Whisk the eggs, milk and pepper with a fork. Preheat the grill.

Add the eggs to the saute pan, pouring so that all the nooks and crannies are filled. Make sure the heat is down to medium at least. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes more, so that the egg is cooked on the bottom but still wet on top.

Break up the goats cheese and dot on top of the frittata. Place pan under the grill for five minutes.

Remove from the grill and use the spatula to break into pizza-shaped slices and serve.

Calories: 1/3 of the frittata - about 200 calories. 1/2 of the frittata - about 300.

A third of the frittata is often enough for me, leaving the rest for my husband.

To make this into a lunch, serve with salad. And if you don't like goats cheese, a dollop of sour cream or creme fraiche is lovely too.