Economy Gastronomy's macaroni cheese sized up + a better option

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm embarking on a trawl of recipes economical and gastronomical, submitting them to an extra test of whether they're actually decent for you.

Next up: Allegra and Paul's macaroni cheese with artichokes and bacon.  Right away, I was suspicious - macaroni and cheese is widely known as being one of the most wonderfully comforting dishes in the world yet one that's remarkably bad for you. And to add bacon to it just seemed a little over the top. (But to be fair, they did say it was optional.)

Furthermore, adding artichokes - instead of say, broccoli - seemed to be an expensive and more calorific choice as well.

So I dutifully added up the calories: without bacon, you're looking at 800 calories per portion. Add bacon back in, and you're looking at closer to 875-900. And there's are nearly no vegetables to be found in that meal, which doesn't please me at all.

But I don't want to be one of those people who says what they don't like but won't say what they do.

Check out Mostly Eating's Heart Healthy Macaroni Cheese.What I liked about his recipe from the start was the way it set out to fuse a crowd favourite like macaroni cheese with some healthy ingredients just as half-fat creme fraiche and wholegrain bread. But she didn't strike off everything tasty from the list - the cheddar is still full-fat and lovely, just not overused.

Tot that one up, and it's just under 600 calories per serving... 300 less than Economy Gastronomy's. That leaves you loads of room to add some fantastic in-season veggies to the side, with room to spare.

a lighter lasagne recipe

I don’t often cook lasagnes – to be honest, they’re an awful lot of work. I also am not crazy about meaty lasagnes (similar to the way I don’t like spaghetti Bolognese). They can also be pretty awful for you when loaded with béchamel sauce and cheese.

But they serve up so beautifully with a lovely side salad – and can be frozen ahead of time. They also generally taste better the day after, making fantastic leftovers.

So this past weekend I decided to make a spring/summer lasagne with courgettes/zucchini in mind. Some recipes like this encourage you to replace the pasta with the courgettes – but I still wanted the pasta, so that was a no go.

As for the tomato sauce, I used a mixture of chopped tomatoes, fresh tomatoes and a store-bought sauce (gasp!) that was on sale at the supermarket.

For the creamy, cheesy component, I used a mixture of ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and skimmed milk.

Courgette lasagne
(serves 4)

4 large courgettes, sliced thinly lengthwise (about 600 g)
olive oil spray
-
10 sheets lasagne
-
250 g ricotta cheese
100 ml milk
handful of basil
-
350 g mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly
-
350 g of tomato and basil pasta sauce
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2-3 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped

Preheat the grill. Spray the long thin slices of courgette with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for about 10 minutes, turning halfway through. You may have to do this in two batches. Set the courgettes to the side to cool.

While the courgettes are cooking, prepare the two sauces. Bring the three tomato ingredients to a simmer. In another pot, mix the ricotta, milk, basil and stir before heating over medium. Season both mixtures.

When the courgettes are done you can start the layering. First, preheat the oven to 190 C/375 F. Start with a layer of tomato sauce (about 1/5), a bit of mozzarella (about 1/5), some courgettes (1/4) and a thin layer of the ricotta mixture (about ¼). Top with the lasagne sheets before repeating four times. (Make sure you reserve enough of each mixture for each layer!) Top the final lasagne sheets with the remaining tomato sauce and mozzarella before putting in the oven to cook for 40 minutes.

Calories per serving: 591.

Serve with a fresh, crunchy side salad (romaine, cucumber, tomato, basil vinaigrette) and some steamed vegetables (broccoli perhaps?)

We had this for dinner one night and lunch the next day. So much for freezing leftovers…

A gorgeous Sunday night stew

What better after a long day on Sunday (writing an article, going for a run, doing household chores) to settle down to a rich, moreish stew.

Stew=boring, I can hear your brain calculating. But wait – this one’s exciting. There’s no beef, no carrot, no potato. This one’s got a twist.

I mentioned it as one of my March must-haves, and I finally got a chance to try it – it’s Valentine Warner’s pork anchovy and black olive stew with polenta. (Don’t freak, anchovy-phobes: the anchovies dissolve into the sauce and only provide depth.)

I’ve adapted this slightly, switching a few things around and reducing (believe it or not) the quantities of oil the recipe calls for. It’s still bloody lovely though – shockingly so.

Pork, anchovy and black olive stew (adapted from Valentine Warner)
(serves 2 generously)

1 kg boned pork shoulder, fat removed as much as possible, and cut into medium-sized chunks (will end up about 750 g)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 medium bulb of fennel, chopped finely
1 tbsp olive oil
6 anchovies in olive oil
juice and peel of one lemon
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp cinnamon
500 ml red wine
1 tbsp tomato puree
100 g dry black olives, stoned removed

for the polenta:
500g instant polenta
a splash of skimmed milk
10 sprays of olive oil
salt and pepper

for the gremolata herb topping:
handful of spinach
peel of half a lemon
1 large clove garlic

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Heat the olive oil in a cast iron pot on the hob. Add the garlic and anchovies, stirring until the anchovies are dissolved in the oil. Then add the onion, fennel, lemon peel and lemon juice and stir to coat. Allow to saute softly over a medium heat, lid on, for about 10 minutes.

Add the pieces of meat to the pot and allow them to sear on all sides, pushing the onion and fennel mixture to the edges if necessary. It will take about 5-6 minutes to make sure the pieces are seared.

Then add the cinnamon and tomato paste, stirring to coat, before pouring in the wine. Put the lid on the pot and place in the oven for about 2 hours.

After two hours, add the olives and ensure the stew hasn’t gone too dry – if it has, add a bit more red wine and stir. Cook for another 20-25 minutes with the lid off.

Prepare the polenta by dropping the instant packet into boiling water for 20 minutes (or follow the instructions on the packaging).

While the polenta’s boiling, make the pseudo-gremolata by whizzing the spinach, lemon peel and garlic in a food processor.

When the polenta’s ready, remove from the packet and mash with a fork and a little bit of milk. Season to taste, before adding to the individual plates.

When the stew’s done, ladle the mixture over the polenta before topping with the spinach-garlic-lemon topping.

The brilliant thing about this dish is that a little goes a long way. I had ¼ of the stew and 1/3 of the polenta mixture, and I was very happy full. It keeps well too – Pete’s having the rest of it tonight…

Calories for a very generous serving: about 1000
Calories for a smaller portion like the one I had above: about 590

festive carrot soup

Nigel Slater first turned me on to the pleasures of a simple soup of carrot and onion, with a bit of cayenne pepper. But today, I'm not really in the mood for cayenne - I want something softer, sweeter, more perfumed. Something festive - dare I say it - Christmassy. I'm going with a bit of allspice and ground ginger in my carrot soup.

Christmassy Carrot Soup
(serves 2)

500 g carrot, grated
3 medium onions, sliced thinly
3 tbsp oil
1 litre hot stock
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
300 g stale wholemeal bread, cubed
20 sprays of olive oil

Heat the oven to 200 C. On a foil-lined baking tray, spray the cubed bread with olive oil and season well. Allow the croutons to bake for 40 minutes, shaking the tray halfway through.

Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and allow them to saute for about 5 minutes. Add the carrot and the remaining tbsp of oil and let them sweat down for a few more minutes.

Add the ginger, allspice and bay.

Add 3/4 of the stock and bring the soup just to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Season and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves, then use the hand blender to puree the soup. Then, slowly adding the last 1/4 of a litre of hot stock, puree it again, giving the mixture a smoother consistency.

Take the croutons out of the oven and allow to cool.

Serve the carrot soup with the croutons mixed in the soup. It should take on a lovely, almost porridgey consistency. It will be lovely, I promise!

sausages and root vegetable bake

We had our meat and our two veg, just not as normal. Sunday lunch with a bit of a twist.

Cumberland sausages: Two for me, three for him. Grilled. Served with Colman's.

Squash and celeriac bake: I made this about a year ago, and stuck pretty much to the same recipe. A couple of changes necessitated by availability: soured cream instead of single; leeks and parsley in place of thyme.

Not to be overly effusive, but this was positively scrummy. I loved every second of it. On par with sausages with parsnip and apple cakes.

Less than 600 calories. Very respectable.

easy peasy: pea, feta and basil pasta salad

This is perfect for an easy Friday night dinner. It's even better, since I made it on Thursday evening. Boil the pasta, boil the peas, blanch them, then add olive oil, feta and basil. It's so simple!

Pea, feta and basil pasta salad
(serves 4)

500g wholemeal pasta shells
250g frozen peas
100g reduced fat feta
a large handful of basil leaves
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Boil the pasta shells and rinse with cold water. Put to the side. Then boil the peas for about 4 minutes. Blanch the peas in ice-cold water so that they don't keep cooking.

In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, peas and oil. Season well. Crumble the feta and mix through. Chop the basil leaves right before serving, and mix through. (If you want to make this ahead of time, I'd recommend adding the basil at the last minute - otherwise it will turn black.)

Calories per serving: about 550.

This calls for quite a lot of pasta - and if you're trying to watch your own calorie intake then adding more peas and less pasta is a good idea. Or, keep the amounts the same, but prepare them in two bowls - one with more pasta, one with less. That will keep other diners happy as well as you. (I keep the feta amounts even - it's a treat I don't like to go without).

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...

Sorry I've been missing in action this week. It's my last week at my current job, so although I am cooking - cooking away in fact, I just haven't quite gotten it together to blog it up. So here's a recap of the first half of the week.

Monday: pasta puttanesca, for two

Wholewheat linguine, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, 1/2 can of chopped black olives, 1 tsp olive oil, salt and pepper, and capers (if you have them - I didn't this time).

With 100 g of pasta, the sauce, and a generous fresh side salad (spinach, tomatoes, portobella mushrooms, cucumber, balsamic dressing), the calorie count comes to just under 500.

I've made a similar one before: see here

Tuesday: bulgur wheat with aubergines and mint

I bow before the greatness that is Nigel Slater. His Kitchen Diaries are truly a culinary bible. It makes me so happy to sit down with his book at the beginning of each month, year after year, to get inspiration for the next thirty or so days. Each time, something new takes my fancy

I wasn't sure at first how this would qualify as a winter recipe, but it completely works. It's rich and nutty. My only quibble with the wonderful Nigel is his (over)use of oil. To fry the onions and aubergine, he calls for six - count 'em, six! - tablespoons of oil. I used two, and a splash of stock (which you'll be using later anyway, so it's not inconvenient).

As it's January, I used drained chopped tomatoes in place of whole ones. Instead of pine kernels (what are they?) I used pine nuts. The mint, a surprise touch, was absolutely perfect. I would absolutely do this again, but next time, I'll spoon a bit of harissa on the side. And healthy too: Nigel says it serves 2, but it likely serves 4. A serving and a half (my size) comes to about 500 calories. Fab!

Wednesday: Chorizo, leek and butter bean stew

Now, I know chorizo's not the healthiest meat at the deli, but it is so delightful. On a cold night, its rich, warm spicy tones ooze satisfaction. Paired with leek, our winter staple, and creamy hearty beans (butter beans or flageolet beans work fab), you can't go wrong.

(serves 2)

125 g chorizo

1 large onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 can of butter or flageolet beans, drained

1-2 leeks, sliced lengthways and then chopped

1 pint of chicken broth

a large handful of parsley

3 tbsp creme fraiche

Slice the chorizo thinly and add to a med-hot saute pan. Add the sliced onions and saute gently for about five minutes. Add a splash of broth to prevent burning.

Add the leeks and garlic and stir fry for another three minutes. Again, add stock if necessary.

Add about 2/3 of the beans, reserving the other 1/3. Then add the stock in increments, to make sure the mixture bubbles away. Once all of the stock is in, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Season well.

Puree the reserved beans with a hand blender or food processor and add to the mixture. Chop the parsley in the food processor too and set aside.

After 15 minutes, remove from the heat and stir in half of the parsley and all of the creme fraiche.

Ladle into two separate shallow bowls and top with the rest of the parsley. Serve immediately.

Calories: 575 per serving. And I'm warning you, it's gorgeous! The only way you might want to bulk it up would be by adding spinach leaves - they would work well.

So what's on for Thursday (my last day on the job!)? Well, I'm allowing myself a free day, a splurge day, whatever you want to call it. So it's going to be Taco Night at our place, with no worries of calories. I'll get back to those on Friday. See you then!

in season: wild mushrooms

On Friday afternoon, I couldn't resist popping by Borough Market before heading home to pick up a few wild mushrooms. As I greedily piled mushrooms into my paper bag, the man next to me smiled. "We're spoilt for choice," he said.

It was very true. Long, thin chinese mushrooms; thick, coarse mushrooms that looked like rocks; deep, dark pungent ones with chocolated-coloured heads. I couldn't stop myself. Though when I got to the till, my pickings totalled a tenner, so I relented and put a few back.

It turns out, I didn't need them all - they grew in fragrance, perfuming my entire flat until Saturday night, when I made the loveliest wild mushroom risotto.

I truly believe risotto is a weekend dish, and one best done at home. It needs time, patience and care and it certainly cannot be rushed (or you'll be forced to eat dense grains). It does not need cream either.

My version is the healthiest one I've come across, and (if I may say so) it tastes amazing.

(serves 2)
300 g wild mushrooms, broken into small pieces
100 g plain mushrooms (button or chestnut), sliced
1 large onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, sliced
150 g arborio risotto rice
25 ml olive oil
1 litre of hot chicken or vegetable stock
175 ml white wine
a handful of parsley, chopped
4 tbsp (about 60 g) parmesan
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in large saute pan or pot. Add the onions and saute and allow to soften over medium heat. After about 5 minutes add the garlic.

After 5 more minutes, add the rice and stir so that the grains are coated in what's left of the oil. Increase the heat to about medium high. Saute for about two minutes

Add the white wine to the pan, and it should boil and bubble off. Begin to add the stock, a little bit at a time, just enough so that the rice is barely covered. Stir constantly.

Continue to do this until all the stock is gone. The process will likely take about 30 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, heat a few sprays of olive oil in small pan and add the mushrooms. Saute over low heat for about 8-10 minutes. Add water in small splashes should the mushrooms look dry.

After 30 minutes is up, add the mushrooms and mix through. Taste a grain of the rice to ensure it is soft enough. If it isn't, make up more stock (or use water) and continue until the grains are soft.

When they are soft enough, remove the risotto from the heat. Season well, and stir in the parsley and 3 tbsp of parmesan and cover the pot. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes.

Serve the risotto in shallow bowls. Sprinkle the last bit of parmesan on top with some freshly-ground black pepper.

The only problem with this dish is how quickly it goes, and how much you'll want more! One serving is about 600 calories, so it's really not too bad at all, especially for a weekend dinner. The flavour of the pungent mushrooms are absolutely mind-boggling. So earthy - it's fantastic to think about how thousands and thousands of years ago our ancestors were foraging for these little treats.