Developing a more wholesome way of eating
Author: mmcv
Rarely does a week go by that I don’t make some sort of roast vegetables. They’re delicious and versatile and can come together for a quick and simple meal. Quite often I’ll make a batch of them at the weekend and use them to make a variety of dishes throughout the week. In this post I’ll show a few example recipes and techniques you can use so you always have something healthy and satisfying ready to go whenever you need it.
Continue reading “Roast Veg, the Swiss Army Knife of Mealtimes”
This simple yet delicious veg bake has a nice contrast between the crisp potatoes on the top and the soft vegetables below that absorb all the flavours of the layers above and below. Simply slice and layer the veg then bang in an oven, and cook for 30-40 mins at 180° C or do it low and slow for a few hours, both ways produce a tasty meal.
Continue reading “Layered Veg Bake”
This soup is warming and comforting at any time of the year. Filled with nutritious root vegetables, squash and lentils, it provides a creamy soup without additional calories.
Continue reading “Comforting Squash, Lentil and Root Veg Soup”
These days we tend to just eat meat at the weekends and keep red meat to once or twice a month, so when we do have it we want to make it special. This very comforting Italian style ragu hits the right notes of being rich and meaty while still being well balanced.
It works well with any sort of braising meat and the traditional southern Italian way of doing it often includes large chunks of beef, pork and game meats. I won’t pretend this dish is completely authentic, but it is completely delicious!
Continue reading “Meat Ragu (Bolognese)”
I have in the past been guilty of disparaging soup as little more than “bread dip”. This is probably fair to say of many of the salty yet bland offerings you may get from a tin or tub. However, making simple fresh soups from flavoursome ingredients can result in silky smooth and satisfying dishes.
While they are still best served with a hunk of crusty bread, they are no longer relegated to mere “dip” and are a delicious dish themselves. A favourite to make due to its speed, convenience and flavor is this hearty mushroom soup. This is meant to be a quick and easy recipe so just rough chop (by hand or food processor) and chuck what you’ve got in a pot then let a blender do the work for you at the end. If you’ve no blending ability, just chop the ingredients as finely as you can and enjoy it a little more on the chunky side.
Continue reading “Quick and Simple Mushroom Soup”
White fish like cod, hake, coley and haddock (or whatever is local and sustainable to you) tend to have a mild taste that works well for a wide variety of dishes and flavours. They make for a quick and easy meal that is low in fat, full of vitamins and minerals and unlike oily fishes, tend to be lower in pollutants so you can eat as much as you wish as often as you wish without concern.
This is a basic recipe for baked fish that can be easily adapted to whatever you have on hand to make a quick and delicious meal. Here’s an example of a super simple version with lemon, herbs and fresh vegetables.
Continue reading “Baked White Fish – Low effort, high reward”
I thought I would kick off the blog with the most recent cooking technique I’ve added to my repertoire. Lathera is a method of cooking vegetables in olive oil, tomato and herbs that comes from Greece and means “with the oil”.
As you’d expect it uses a lot of olive oil which actually keeps the nutrition of the vegetables in the dish and helps our bodies digest them more fully. Before we dive in too deep, here’s an example of a typically dish, with green beans and potatoes.
Continue reading “Greek Green Bean and Potato Lathera”
Ah bread. Was ever a finer food invented? Whether toasted golden brown with a smear of butter or gently torn and dipped into a warming soup, this staple food is the epitome of comfort and pleasure. Yet walk down any supermarket aisle and you’ll see what horrific and torturous things we’ve done to this once noble food.
Bread at it’s simplest is flour, water, yeast and salt. Sometimes there may be the addition of whole food ingredients like fruit, seeds, olive oil, eggs and milk, but look at the ingredient list on a mass produced pan loaf and you’ll see a whole lot more going into them, many of which you wouldn’t find in a regular kitchen.
Continue reading “A Note on Bread”
Cooking oil is an ubiquitous element to our cooking and yet one we rarely give much thought to. This is a shame as it’s one of the most vital parts to healthy and wholesome cooking.
Continue reading “A Note on Oils”
Continue reading “Introduction”“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”
George Bernard Shaw
A Sincere Love of Food 