Warm Mezze Salad

I have decided that this salad is a union of great things. You have the wintery warmness of roasted vegetables with the summery vibrance of all the colours on the plate. The warm veg will slightly wilt the nutrient-packed kale and make it a delight to crunch. The earthy vegetables and falafels are off-set by the tangy pomegranate pips and the sharp lemon vinaigrette. And the goats cheese is just the bloomin' cherry on top. Healthy-food central, gluten-free, vegetarian... and still tastes deeeelicious. Shocking. I hope you make it and enjoy it!

1. Preheat the oven to 220°c.
2. Slice the courgette and aubergine into discs about 1cm thick, drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and oregano.
3. Cut the Red Onion and Red Pepper into slices, drizzle with oil.
4. Place the veg in the oven for around 35 minutes. Stir them about every so often so that they don't dry out!
4. Place the falafels in the oven to warm according to packet instructions.
5. While that is cooking - knock up a lemon vinaigrette. I add a teaspoon of dijon mustard, the juice of half a lemon and about 4 tablespoons of olive oil to a cup and whisk it together with the teaspoon. You can add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Plate up!

SERVES 3

INGREDIENTS:

• Watercress, Spinach and Rocket Salad, 1 bag
• Kale, a handful on each plate
• 1 Courgette
• 1 Aubergine
• 1 Red Onion
• 1/2 Red Pepper
• Olive Oil, a drizzle
• Falafels, 1 pack 
• Pomegranate Seeds (I buy the ready-to-eat kind to save from the faff of de-seeding the fruit)
• Goats Cheese, 75g
• Sunblush Tomatoes, 100g

• Lemon Vinaigrette
• Dijon Mustard, 1 teaspoon 
• Lemon, the juice of half
• Olive Oil, 4 tablespoons
• Salt and Pepper, to taste

Sizzling Spicy Shrimp on Guacamole, Sweet Potato Curls & A Poached Egg On Top

Sometimes, when you can't decide what to have for lunch, you've just gotta go for everything. Following two hours of intense concentration and desperate attempts to keep up in Latin, my friend and I decided to treat ourselves and knocked up this vibrant little lunch. It's the perfect combination of zesty, punchy guacamole, spicy lil' shrimp, healthy curly fries and an oozing yolk. I can't concentrate writing this because all I can think about is eating it again. It's healthy brain food, it's gluten and dairy free, and above all it really is rather delicious and will set you off satisfied for a productive afternoon (of trawling facebook).

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.
2. Peel the sweet potato and spiralize away!

I am obsessed with my spiralizer. Courgette spaghetti? ACTUALLY tastes like pasta. Pretty little ribbons of cucumber in my salad? Don't mind if I do. Healthy curly fries? Why not. If you are not up-to date with your culinary equipment trends why not make some wedges. Not as hip but just as tasty.

2. Lay the curls on a baking dish, drizzle over a few glugs of olive oil, throw on a sprinkle of salt and place in the oven to cook for about 20 minutes - toss them around regularly.

Mine caught and burnt around the edges but I quite enjoyed the mixture of textures!

3. Finely dice the red onion, spring onions, red chili, avocados, tomatoes and chop up the coriander.

4. You should probably put on the kettle right about now.

5. In a bowl add the juice of the lime, the diced veg and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Mash it all together with a spoon or fork.

If you aren't serving straight away, place the avocado seeds in the bowl with the guacamole to stop it from browning.

SUCH PRETTY COLOURS!

6. Add the boiling water to a small pan and the white wine vinegar (once again I used red because we are too stingy to invest in the white-kind).

7. Crack an egg into a cup or a ramekin, create a whirlpool in the pan and add the egg to the eye of the swirl.

Use fresh eggs it will help you so much to look really impressive when your eggs turn out oh-so-perfect and your friends are in awe and you are a smug poaching king.

8. Check on the curly fries cause no doubt you forgot to and they're burning and need a little toss about.

9. When the poached egg is ready (about 2 mins), take it out with a slotted spoon and dry it on some kitchen towel. Get on with your next egg.

10. I used a little bowl to shape my guacamole, then added the egg on top.

11. In a pan heat some oil with some spices of your choice. I went for a dash of paprika, cumin, chili powder, a large pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper.

12. When the oil's hot - throw in the raw prawns and keep them sizzling until they're pink. They'll be ready in a flash.

PLATE UP!

SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large sweet potato
• olive oil,  a drizzle
• salt and pepper, great big pinches

• 2 teaspoons of white wine vinegar
• 2 eggs

• 175g raw king prawns
• olive oil, a few glugs
• a generous sprinkle of spice: paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper

Guacamole

• 1 lime, juice 
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 1 red chili, finely diced
• 2 avocados, finely diced
• 150g baby plum tomatoes, finely diced
• 50g coriander, chopped
• salt and pepper, a sprinkle

A happy chappy I'd say.

Ginger Chicken Udon

Someone yesterday had the audacity to call Wagamamas the McDonalds of the Japanese world. He really hurt my feelings. In order to alleviate the pain of his truthless and vicious invective I decided to concoct my all-time favourite Wagas dish... Ginger Chicken Udon. My flatmate and I bought enough ingredients for 4, asked around if anyone wanted to join, realised we had no mates and couldn't even bribe anyone into letting us feed them and so, decided to cook pretty much the same amount of food for just the two of us. Delightful.

It's a whizz to knock up, rather healthy and deeply satisfying.

It does not look this yellow in life. I blame my dingily lit student flat and propensity to use too much saturation when editing photos.

1. Take the skin off the chicken thighs, take out the bone and chop them into chunks
2. Crush the garlic, peel and grate the ginger and chop up the chili (discard the seeds)
3. On a medium heat add the oil, the chicken and the garlic, ginger & chili

4. Slice the onion, mangetout, broccoli, sweetcorn, spring onions, beanspouts and noodles

5. After the chicken's been cooking for about 5 minutes turn up the heat to max and add the veg
5. After about 3 minutes make holes for the eggs, crack them in, let them set a little (about 30 seconds) and then stir them up

6. Add the soy sauce and cook for 2-3 more minutes
7. Serve up with the coriander sprinkled on top

If are feeling like dabbling in dietary restrictions in the gluten-department you can replace the udon with rice noodles ALTHOUGH IT WON'T TASTE THE SAME CAUSE UDON IS IN THE TITLE DUH. Or if you're feeling like FS is upon you and you want to look your best for fashion season, why not leave 'em out altogether and go ham on the vegetables.

It really is an ugly dish but it tastes divine and you must all try it.

SERVES 3 (or 2 fatties)

INGREDIENTS

• olive oil, a few glugs
• 4 skinless chicken thighs, deboned and diced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 thumbs of fresh ginger, grated (aka A LOT)
• 2 chilis, diced finely
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 pack of mangetout, broccoli, baby sweetcorn, spring onions
• beansprouts, a handful
• coriander, chopped to garnish
• 300g udon noodles (straight to wok)
• oodles and udons (lol) of soy sauce
• 2 eggs