Garlic-oily parmesan-ladden basil-strewn antipasto pasta

HAPPY 2016 MY LITTLE SPRINKLETTES (all superstars have names for their fans, obv)

I'm sure you're all hitting the gym and eating healthily. Good for you. I'm certainly not. If you are, please do not continue reading this post. This recipe (/ list of ingredients you must chop and put in a bowl) is an India Lyons special and is simple, extremely moreish and utterly divine. One for the more gluttonous among us. A large bowl of garlicy oil covered vegetables, nutty parmesan, fresh basil and oodles of pasta.

I know I told you to stop reading if you are all "new year-new me" but I know you won't have because you are a total sprinklette and so, for you special people, I have used courgetti. It has nothing on pasta but this sauce is beyond scrumptious and could be paired with disgusting food like sweetcorn or cannellini beans and you'd still lick your bowl and want more.

1. If you are not afraid of gluten, start cooking your delectable spaghetti

2. Drain and chop your green olives

3. Chop all your anitpasto vegetables, conserving their oily goodness in your bowl

2. Chop the fresh tomatoes in quarters, chop half the basil and crush the garlic cloves into the veg

3. Season with salt, pepper and chilli flakes and stir everything up

4. Drain the pasta or prepare the courgetti (do a little courgetti willy dance) and stir through the vegetables

5. Plonk some basil leaves on the top, serve up and shave on copious amounts of parmesan

Happy eating,
B

SERVES 5

INGREDIENTS

• 280g jar, mixed mushroom antipasto
• 280g jar, sundried tomatoes
• 280g jar, chargrilled peppers antipasto
• 350g jar, green olives
• 28g bag, fresh basil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a courgette each, or spaghetti 
• a dash of salt, pepper and chilli flakes
• a hefty sprinkling of parmesan
• a handful of fresh baby plum tomatoes

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 

Creamy Goats Cheese, Fiery Chorizo and Crunchy Kale Salad

Guys. It actually crossed my mind that it would be really funny to write this blog post in Latin. I genuinely cracked up at the thought. Then I realised that I have in fact lost my mind to languages and have become a full-blown Latin translating, Diet Coke sipping, library-enduced lunatic.

I don't know about you but the weather, the exam period and the need to grow my stomach in preparation for christmas meals has led me to eat everything in sight, at all times of the day. I decided it was high time I got some greens in my diet and knocked this together for myself and my flatmates. It was made in a flash, tasted great and was also ever so slightly healthy.

Apologies for the unedited photos but Tacitus needs some translating. Eheu. 



These are your ingredients - red and green... festive!

1. Make a balsamic dressing with a couple of teaspoons of dijon mustard, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, a good few glugs of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper

2. Massage the dressing into the kale

3. Add some rocket, watercress & spinach to the top

4. Chop up the tomatoes and a little bit of chilli - three rings each (without seeds, unless you like to watch 'em squirm)

5. Slice up your chorizo on a diagonal and fry on a medium heat

Please ignore the hob, I swear the 'grub' is just an optical illusion from the light etc. etc. etc… 

6. Slice the goats cheese into rings, and when the chorizo is finished and out of the pan, place the goats cheese in for few seconds to melt a little. Then add them both to the salad

7. Chop up your avocado and add

8. Finally, slice some basil into strips and sprinkle them over the top

I promise this will make you feel better about life. It tastes great, it's low carb, goats cheese is one of the best cheeses around calorie and fat-wise, avocado is creamy green yumminess, CHORIZO IS MY HEAVEN and kale is crunchy.

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

Dressing

• 3 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• pinch of salt and pepper

(I definitely just made those measurements up… I do it by eye you see. Please taste-test before you pour onto your salad. I promise to take notes next time I make it.)

Salad

• 1 bag curly kale
• 1 bag watercress, rocket & spinach salad
• as many tomatoes as your heart desires
• 1/2 red chilli
• 150g cooking chorizo
• 2 ripened goats cheese

ps. food for though (geddit): I have very much struggled with the grammar of goats cheese… goat's cheese... goats' cheese... who knows.