Slow cooked squid and chorizo stew with garlic mayonnaise

I love squid, its cheap, versatile, good for you and tasty. You can also get it all nicely prepared at fish counters, ready for you to cut into rings.

When most people think of how to cook squid they think of quick cooking, to keep the squid tender, because tough squid is horrible. However you can also cook squid very long and slow and the result will be the same, a meltingly tender squid.

This dish takes a few hours to cook but minimal effort, and the result is delicious, do not miss off the garlic mayonnaise, it transforms the dish completely.

Squid and chorizo stew with garlic mayonnaise

50-100g chorizo
pinch of thyme leaves, dried works too
100ml mild veg stock
250g cherry tomatoes, left whole 
250g squid, cut into rings
250g potato cut into bite sized chunks
small handful of fresh parsley
one clove of garlic
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
Crusty bread/ toast to serve

Heat a casserole pot and add the chorizo, heat gently until the oil starts to be released. Add the thyme and cook for another minute. 

Add the stock, careful it will sizzle and the cherry tomatoes. Pop on the lid and leave for 10 minutes over a gentle heat. After 10 minutes add the squid to the pan, making sure it is nestled in all the juices, return the lid and cook over a gentle heat for an hour. 

After an hour give everything a stir and add the potatoes, return the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes. 

Whilst the potatoes are cooking crush the garlic clove and mix with the mayonnaise.

When the potatoes have finished cooking stir through the parsley and divide into bowls. Top with the garlic mayonnaise and a final sprinkle of parsley. Serve with crusty bread/toasts for soaking up all the juices. 

Spicy peanut butter and vegetable stew

Its cold outside and I am wrapped in a blanket, is it really the last day of July!? I need food that is warming and delicious but it is not really the time of year for meaty, slow cooked stews and casseroles, with plenty of root vegetables, it feels a bit wrong, not to mention many of the ingredients are out of season.

The sweet potato and chickpeas make this a substantial meal and the whole dish provides plenty of different textures, a good meal to feed those people who think a meal without meat is not a meal.

This recipe is warming, hearty and delicious, comfort food that nourishes from the inside out, a dish that can be eaten all year round. 

I love that this recipe contains both spice and peanut butter! The spice level can be adapted to suit our own palette.

Spicy peanut butter and vegetable stew 

serves 2, easily doubled

1/2 red pepper, diced

stick of celery. diced

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 tsp hot smoked paprika

1 tsp cumin

pinch of cayenne

100ml of vegetable stock

2 heaped tablespoons of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
tin of chopped tomatoes

1/2 tin of chickpeas

good couple of handfuls of spinach or kale

brown rice to serve

yoghurt (soya if avoiding dairy) and chilli flakes to finish (optional)

In a nice big casserole pot sauté the pepper, celery and potato in a 1/2 tbsp of  oil of your choice (olive, coconut, vegetable, whatever) for 5-10 minutes, add in the spices and cook for a minute more. 

Combine the peanut butter and hot stock , just whisk to combine with a fork, and add this along with the tomatoes to the pot. Give it all a stir and pop on  lid, leave to simmer for 30 minutes. Check on it after 15 minutes, give it a stir and add a splash more stock/water it it needs it.

After 30 minutes add in the chickpeas and kale/spinach and cook, without the lid, for 5 more minutes.

Serve with brown rice, if you like, and a dollop of natural/greek yoghurt and sprinkle of chilli flakes.

  

Sausage and fennel carbonara

This dinner is a revelation. It came about after a busy day and raiding the kitchen for ideas. I normally plan every meal I am going to have in a week and then do the shop but this week got a bit out of sync.

I had a couple of leftover GF sausages, a third of a fennel bulb and as usual my cupboards contained pasta, eggs and garlic, there was even some parmesan in the fridge, so the dish made itself

I simply put some GF pasta on to cook, removed the two sausages from their skins and broke up the sausage meat into a pan and cooked until brown, continuing to break up the sausage meat as it cooked. I added some chopped fennel and garlic to the pan with the sausages and continued to sauté for a few minutes longer.

When the pasta had finished cooking I drained off most of the water and added in the sausage fennel mix. I also threw in a few frozen peas at this point as I felt the dish could do with more vegetables. I put the pan back onto a low heat, stirred in a couple of eggs, seasoning and a handful of grated parmesan.

This is a really flavoursome diner that I would actively chose to make again, its amazing what you can come up with after rooting through the freezer/fridge cupboards.

I try not to waste food but I suspect many of us could make a number of meals from what we already have stashed at home instead of buying new ingredients. Its worth thinking about when carrying out your next shop.

Spaghetti with sardines, tomatoes and olives

Take a look at the ingredients below.

How many do you already have in your cupboards/fridge? Even if you had none of them, (really?) to buy them all is still cheap. 

Oily fish are so incredibly good for us and it is recommended that we have one portion a week. If you are uncertain about sardines, mackerel etc. Then trying them in a pasta dish is a good way to introduce them to your diet. Need more convincing? These two tins of sardines in water cost 80p. Not each, together.

These ingredients come together to make a truly delicious dinner in little more than 15 minutes. It may not be much to look at, seriously trying to get a decent enough photo and eat my dinner while it was still hot was a challenge, but I promise the taste is excellent.

Quick, cheap, tasty and good for you, what are you waiting for?

Spaghetti with sardines, tomatoes and olives

serves 2

150-200g Gluten free spaghetti
2 tomatoes
12-15 pitted green olives
2 tins of sardines in water
1/2 lemon
pinch of sea salt
pinch of chilli flakes (optional, if you can't tolerate any spice leave them out)
oregano, fresh or dried (optional, if you have it great, if you don't and will not use any in another recipe do not buy it specially)

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan large enough to hold your pasta. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. 

While the pasta is cooking chop the tomato and olive into small diced pieces. 

When the pasta is done drain most of the water leaving a couple of tablespoons worth in the pan. Place back over a very low heat. Add the tomatoes and olives and flake in the sardines. The bones are edible, they kind of crumble and break up over heat, if you prefer you can remove the large spinal bone. I tend to do this. Squeeze in the lemon juice, add the salt and chilli if you are using. Give everything a good mix to make sure everything is evenly distributed, sprinkle over the oregano if using and serve immediately.