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 

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.

Tangy Thai Rainbow Salad

To compensate for my jaunt to the cinema (and subsequent consumption of a ten-ton Tess serving of Candy King with AN ENTIRE TUB OF PRINGLES), I decided to keep my lunch light, bright, easy-peasy but still packed with a punch.

It was really delicious, incredibly healthy and particularly filling so I don't feel at all bad about the 76,340 calories I just consumed in one sitting. Not even slightly.


Excuse the chipped plate. It's quite a sore spot and I still don't feel ready to talk about it. 

For the salad:

1. Slice half a Chinese Leaf into thin strips (a type of lettuce stocked in Tesco)
2. Finely dice half a red onion (also in Tesco)
3. Peel a carrot into ribbons (you'll never guess what, appears on the shelves of our well-stocked Tesco)
4. Grate half a cucumber (see above)
5. Dice an avocado (NEVER. IN. TESCO.)
6. Heat a non-stick frying pan on high
7. When the pan's hot, throw in your prawns and flash fry until they have just turned pink all over

(My prawns were frozen because it's cheaper… so before I fried them, I defrosted them by putting them in a mug and pouring in some boiling water. I drained them just before I fried them.)

For the dressing:

8. Juice two limes into a bowl
9. De-seed and chop up half a chilli (or a whole one if you like it hot) & add to lime
10. Add 2 dessert spoons of soy sauce, 2 dessert spoons of runny honey & 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
11. Grate a thumb-size piece of ginger, gather the pulp and squeeze it into the bowl (I hate raw ginger pulp. Yuck.)

The dressing is super strong when you taste it on its own, but over the whole salad it gives it the pizazz it needs. 

SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

SALAD

• 1/2 Chinese Leaf
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 avocado
• 240g raw prawns

DRESSING

• 2 limes
• 2 dessert spoons of soy sauce
• 2 dessert spoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1/2 red chilli
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger 

Sweet Berry Clouds

Four years in and I'm still not ready for a St Andrews winter. How could I forget about these pitch-black 4 o'clocks and the gale force winds with their torrents of rain trying to force us back into the library. Not to mention that we are approaching week 9, deadlines and exams are looming. Really, all I want is to be snuggled up warm, snacking and watching a film. I have the next best thing.

Although these may not be what you'd necessarily call healthy (okay, I concede, there is no way that these can be called healthy), I have decided that they are good for the soul. Plus, they are snappy to make.

The sharp blackberries and raspberries are packed full of fibre and antioxidants (and apparently the former help with your libido... good for keeping warm on a winter's eve). Mint is high in Vitamin C and it also reminds me of mojitos which is always a plus. The cream acts as a figurative fluffy down duvet and the icing sugar, well, it keeps you sweet in this most miserable of times.

1. Whip up your mascarpone and double cream in a bowl. The mixture should be quite firm - if it's a little too stiff add a dessert-spoon of water to loosen it up.

2. Add the icing sugar and mix in

3. Chop a sprig of mint leaves finely, and cut the fruit into quarters
(I forgot to do this and ended up having to chop them up within the bowl - all very messy and definitely unadvisable)

4. Stir them into the cream and crush them lightly with your fork. The fruity juices will run and give it a glorious lilac colour with vibrant streaks of pink and purple! Yum.

5. Scoop spoonfuls of the cream onto your meringue baskets.

6. Crush some blackberries and raspberries on top of your cream and add a little leaf of mint.

Don't mind me while I polish these off. See you all at fat camp.

8 SERVINGS

INGREDIENTS

• 8 meringue baskets
• 150ml double cream
• 125ml mascarpone 
• 3 heaped dessert spoons of icing sugar
• 1 sprig of mint leaves, chopped
• 120g raspberries, quartered
• 120g blackberries, quartered

To garnish

• 4 raspberries
• 4 blackberries
• 8 small mint leaves

A punchy little number

I get obsessed with food. I lived in Paris for a term and every single day that I lived in the French capital, the hub of the culinary world and the home to some of the most exquisite bakeries in the world, I ate the same supermarket Boursin and carrot wrap for my lunch.

This, however, is my latest obsession. It is ever so slightly prettier, healthier and fresher. It is also largely pink.

I had something similar for brunch recently at the local café Sunday and thought THIS IS DELIGHTFUL, I MUST TRY THIS AT HOME.

1. Julienne your carrots and beetroot and add them to a bowl with your Kale

Watch here for Julienne-ing knife skillz but lets be honest no one at uni has a knife sharp enough to cut butter, they really don't come any blunter. So you can go for a rather chunky cut like I have or just grate them up.

2. Into the bowl pour in the olive oil, the juice of a lemon, a minced clove of garlic and sprinkle in lots of salt

3. Massage well to get everything covered in the creamy dressing and to break down the rough kale a little

^ (Apologies for the eyesore above that is, unfortunately, my mutant arm)

 4. Poach each egg for 2 minutes, one by one.

I really think it's true that the fresher they are the easier it is. I just boil some water in a pan, add a wee lid of white wine vinegar in. Crack an egg into a cup. Then, when boiling, swill the water round in a circular motion with a dessert spoon and put your egg into the typhoon's eye!

5. When your eggs are cooked, take them out with a slotted spoon and leave them to dry off

6. Plate up your kale medley, chop in an avo & lay the eggs on top

7. Last but not least add a sprinkling of pepper

Et voilà. If you are what you eat then this healthy, vibrant and punchy little number suits all my pals very well indeed.

 SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

• 200g curly kale
• 2 carrots
• 3 beetroots
• 100g feta
• a good few glugs of olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove
• lots of salt
• 1/2 avocado
• 2 eggs
• pepper, to taste

That's all folks. Give it a bash.