Category Archives: Meals

#JanuaryJoy – Try a Veggie Day

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I’ve never been a vegetarian and a rare steak would be among my favourite meal choices. Couple that with a husband who LOVES his meat and veggie days are few and far between in my house.

There are a lot of benefits to trying a vegetarian day or week though. You’ve got the obvious positives of packing more of your five a day in and if you stay away from cheese as a meat substitute, you’re often going to end up with a healthier, lower fat meal too. If you want to save a few pennies this January, you can bring down the shopping bill when you don’t have to spend money on decent cuts of meat. So for all of those reasons and simply for the sake of variety in our usual meal repertoire, I thought it would be fun to explore some vegetarian recipes.

Pasta recipes often get a bad reputation for seeming student-y, but I think this one strikes the balance between fast simple food and elegant complex (if rustic) flavours. Plus it has the added benefit of being one of those dishes that you can always knock up with store cupboard ingredients. Taken from a Christmas gift we received, Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course it’s a great week-night meal.

Pasta with tomatoes, anchovy and chillies. (Serves 4)
400g dried spaghetti
Olive oil, for frying and drizzling
2-3 galric cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 dried red chilli, crumbled.
1 x 50g tin anchovies in oil, drained and finely chopped
200g pitted black olives, roughly chopped
3 tbsp capers, drained and rinsed
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
Seasoning and basil leaves to garnish.

  • Cook the pasta until al dente
  • Heat a frying pan with some olive oil and fry the chilli, anchovies and garlic for 1-2 minutes until the anchovy starts to melt into the oil
  • Add the remaining ingredients and stir for another 4-5 minutes until the tomatoes collapse and the ingredients are well combined.
  • Drain the pasta and toss into the pan with the sauce. Toss until the sauce coats the pasta. Season to taste and serve topped with basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Do you try to eat vegetarian food regularly and why? Have you got a favourite veggie dish that you make?

Love,
Rebecca
xo

Florence’s Food: Modern Potato Salad

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I’ve been waiting to blog this recipe all summer. Unfortunately as the weather has been so unpredictable there just hasn’t been an opportune time to share, as it’s a recipe you’ll call on time and time again in warmer weather. Just this week however I was digging up the potatoes from the allotment and had lots of small ones so it reminded me to get it blogged in the lovely mild weather we’re having. It works as well for a BBQ – as we had it on this occasion (and perfectly with steak or Barbequed chicken,) as it does midweek and is ridiculously easy for delicious results. Plus it’s always one of those dishes that gets compliments. Who doesn’t need another one of those in their repertoire?!

Ingredients:
A bag of new potatoes (I used standard ones here and chopped them but new potatoes are a little prettier!)
A red onion
Capers (in a jar)
A jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil
Balsamic vinegar
Your preferred Salad leaf – watercress or spinach is good but whatever you prefer will work.

  • First up, put your pan of new potatoes onto boil.
  • In the meantime, chop up your red onion however you prefer, diced or halved then sliced. Add it to a pan with a generous lug of the oil your tomatoes are in and start to sweat down the onion.
  • As the onion gets softer add a couple of tables spoons of sun-dried tomatoes, halved, and a couple of tablespoons of drained capers. Finish with a slug of balsamic vinegar to taste.
  • Keep this on a low heat and reduce it all to a soft caramelised combination of the ingredients then remove from the heat.

  • When your Potatoes are done, remove from the heat, drain and add to the pan with your reduction. (I did this at the table for the purposes of the photographs but it’s easier in a pan.)

  • You now have two choices. If you are ready to serve the dish, add your leaves whilst the potatoes and dressing are warm (but not hot,) and toss. The leaves will wilt slightly and you want to coat the potatoes and leaves with the oil and reduced onion, tomato and caper mix. If on the other hand you are not ready to serve, the whole thing is just as good cold, just toss it all together when you are ready.

Voila – the most delicious and easy dish and the modern way to do potato salad ;)

Love,
Rebecca
xo

Friday Food: Asparagus and Gruyere tart

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I am quite obsessive about cooking seasonally, particularly when entertaining. I hate eating stodgy winter food in summer, yet I lust after a crumble come Autumn. Of course, I’m also a fan of simple food and when we had friends over this week as a belated birthday dinner after work, the food needed to be easy. I chose this Asparagus and Gruyere tart as a starter that I have been meaning to make forever. You can find versions all over the internet but with 3 ingredients I don’t feel it really warrants a recipe.

  • Roll out a sheet of ready made pastry (there’s a time and a place for making your own pastry, this isn’t it.) Trim it to fit your baking tray. Use a knife to score a line about an inch away from the edge on all sides making it look like a frame and then score the interior too in a cross hatch pattern.
  • Bake according to the manufacturers instructions – usually about 20 minutes until risen and golden.

  • In the meantime grate your Gruyere, (I actually substituted for Emmental on this occasion, any sweet nutty swiss cheese will do.) When the pastry is done, squash the central area of pastry within your crust edge and fill the space with grated cheese.
  • Lay your asparagus on top of the cheese, packed in close to each other.
  • Return to the oven and bake for another 20 or so minutes until the asparagus is cooked and the cheese is golden.

One rectangle could serve 6 but we were greedy and shared it between 4. Enjoy! Love, Rebecca xo

Friday Food: 5 perfect summer recipes…

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This morning I have not one but 5 recipes to offer you. It was time for me to head over to Reverie Magazine on Monday and offer my lifestyle expertise. This month with the fleeting warm weather, my mind was on outdoors summer entertaining so I decided to round up a whole menu of delicious ideas to solve all your summer entertaining problems. Some are my personal favourites and I found some fresh new ideas that fit the bill too.

Do head on over to Reverie and check it out!

Love,
Rebecca
xo

PS! A huge thank you to Mary and Kate for supporting our new venture, Dream. Find. Do. – You can read their fabulous post here! Thanks girls!

Friday Food: Esme’s Quick Tuna Pasta

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Just recently I have been the kind of busy that I haven’t been in a long while. Like flat out busy, need-a-hair-cut-but-can’t-fit-it-in busy, turning a blind eye to the house being completely disgusting busy… and one of the first things that go when I’m so busy is decent food. I buy stir fries of pre-chopped vegetables if it’s a good day and something infinitely worse on a bad one. It’s easy to forget that quick food does not have to be junk food. Delicious and nutritious (oh yes, I did just say that,) meals can also be quick.

So if any of you are feeling similarly time poor, rejoice for Esme’s submission, something I used to cook and will now be putting firmly back into my repertoire.

This is a recipe that I made up one hungry Saturday afternoon a few years ago. It is now our ‘go to’ weekend lunch because it’s really tasty, quick and uses ingredients you probably already have. Enjoy!

Image Credit

Ingredients (Serves 2)
150g Spaghetti (we always eat wholemeal pasta because we like the taste, but it’s up to you)
12 – 20 cherry tomatoes
2 chopped cloves of garlic
1 tin of tuna
A little normal olive oil
Fresh basil leaves, if you have some
Good extra-virgin olive oil
Parmesan for grating
Salt and pepper

Method

  • Boil a large pan of water, adding plenty of salt. When the water’s on a steady boil, add your spaghetti.
  • Heat some normal olive oil in a saucepan (we use our Le Creuset shallow pan) and when it’s hot, add your cherry tomatoes.
  • Allow the tomatoes to fry for a few minutes. Some of them will split from the heat and some with char a bit – this is good! Squash some of them with a wooden spoon.
  • Add the garlic when the tomatoes are pretty much done so that it doesn’t burn.
  • Your spaghetti should now be done. Drain it and cover it with the good olive oil so that it doesn’t stick together.
  • Add your tuna to the pan with the tomatoes. Also add the basil at this stage, if you have it. Season with salt and pepper and heat it through. The tuna doesn’t need to cook, it’s just nice if it’s broken up and all mixed in with the tomatoes.
  • Now stir in your spaghetti and serve straight onto plates.
  • Liberally sprinkle with parmesan, a drizzle of good olive oil, a few more basil leaves and a grating of black pepper.
I have a feeling this is going to be a popular one… I know I’m always looking for quick easy midweek recipes. Stock up on tuna before Findettes clear the shelves! ;)
Love,
Rebecca
xo
PS. Read more from Esme here (including her brilliant Kitchen gadget guides.)

 

 

Friday Food: King Prawn Curry

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This Friday Lynsey has sent in a King Prawn Curry which makes me want a night in with thai curry and a film, immediately. It’s possibly one of my favourite dishes and I’m really looking forward to making it. Don’t forget, if you’re on a health kick, my healthy version is here. Thanks for sending it in Lynsey!

King Prawn Curry with Basmati Rice (serves 4)

As my little brother has recently graduated from college as a fully qualified chef (well done!), I thought it was high time that I actually learnt to cook something a bit more complex than soup… This (super easy and tasty) recipe is an adjusted version of one I learnt at evening classes, thanks to my tutor Niall Murray.

Ingredients:

  • 400 g King Prawns – shelled, cooked or raw
  • 1 tin of coconut milk
  • 2 shallots – roughly chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic – roughly chopped
  • 1 thumb of ginger – peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 red chillis – de-seeded and chopped
  • 1 lime – juice and zest
  • 2 or 3 tbsp Thai green curry paste
  • 1 tsp ground cumin and ground coriander
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • 100 g cashew nuts
  • 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 300 g basmati rice
  1. To start, roughly chop the shallots, garlic, ginger and chilli(s), I use 2 because I like it to have a bit of a kick, but 1 is perfect just to give the dish flavour. Once chopped, add to a pot with the coconut milk, curry paste, lime zest and juice, and spice. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavours infuse into the milk and then blend the mixture with a hand blender – be careful of splashing yourself with the hot milky mixture!
  2. Once blended, simmer again for 5 minutes. While simmering, dissolve the cornflour and sugar in the fish sauce and slowly add this to the curry sauce while stirring. Now it’s time to add the prawns and cashew nuts – allow to simmer for 3 minutes if using raw prawns or 1 minute if cooked – just allowing time to heat the prawns through.
  3.  Alternatively if seafood isn’t your thing (or like my lovely fiancé you are unlucky enough to be allergic), you can add some cooked chicken – I use about 1 chicken breast per person when making it this way. Heat the cooked chicken through in the same manner as the prawns and bingo! Serve with basmati rice (about 75 g per person should be plenty) and enjoy!

Do let us know if you’ll be trying this one and if you have a recipe you would like to share (don’t worry, pictures are not strictly necessary,) please send it in to hello@florencefinds.com

Love,
Rebecca
xo

PS. Very impressed you learnt this at cookery classes Lynsey!

Friday Food: Mahj’s Steak and Stilton Salad

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Given that I’m in the land of steak and also a part of the world that I think does salads particularly well, I thought this was a very apt post for this weeks Friday food. Sent in by Mahj, it’s also perfect for the warmer months – I often BBQ meat in the summer then add it to a salad to get a really summery feel to a dish. Take it away Mahj!

I can’t remember where I pinched this idea from, I think I had it in a pub somewhere at sometime and had one of those “hang on a minute. This is really quite easy. I could make this at home” type thoughts.

My go-to salad recipe comes courtesy of Sir Jamie and his Jamie’s Ministry of Food book which I thoroughly recommend. It is his Mediterranean chopped salad and it goes like this:

For 2 people
Small handful of black olives
½ a red onion
1 red chilli
3 tomatoes
1 Romaine lettuce or 2 little gem lettuces
Bunch of fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

You can obviously take out and change in whatever ingredients you want, but this is the recipe I use as a base for all my salads. And all you do is chop everything up. It’s really that easy. Sir Jamie recommends you chop all the ingredients (starting with the harder, crunchier veg first) and then pile them all onto the middle of a big chopping board and continue chopping and mixing together. I then divided up the mound of salad into 2 bowls, made a well in the middle of each and added 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 of balsamic vinegar into each and mixed both bowls so they were covered in their dressings. As stilton is so strongly flavoured, you want a lighter dressing on the salad.

With your salad done, now you can move onto your steak and stilton. Or, as my husband would call it, the best part!
I tend to use 2 steaks and it doesn’t matter if its rump, sirloin or whatever. Whatever your preference. For the stilton, I think about a 150-200g piece is enough. With that all you need to do is crumble it up and divide between your 2 bowls.

Then all you do is cook your steak in a griddle pan (if you have it). I am designated steak cooker in our house and the real secret is make sure you pan is hot. Like screaming hot. Like so hot you can see the heat waves coming off it and its smoking a little. Then add your steaks. For medium steaks its 3 minutes per side and rest for 4 minutes. You may need to adjust your times given how thick your steak is.

Finally, cut your steaks into strips, divide them into the bowls also and there you have it. This becomes a pretty regular staple in our house from now until September time. And is lovely with a glass of red.

Mahj xoxo

PS. I really should mention that the steak in the photo was more on the rare side which is slightly less done than I like to have my steak, but it still tasted delicious.

Friday Food: Zan’s Chickpea and spinach curry

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Good morning readers! Today we’re welcoming Zan with a fabulous vegetarian recipe for Spinach and Chickpea Curry. I can’t wait to try this one as I’m a huge fan of curry and I think it would be a great addition to the table if you were having a large group of friends over for a curry night and needed a selection of dishes too…

This recipe is one of my staples and a variation on a chickpea curry recipe that an old friend of mine imparted to me while I was at university. It’s changed a bit over the years but it’s one of the few things I can cook entirely from memory and it’s brilliant for cooking in bulk and storing as it freezes really well. I’ve written the recipe for 4 servings but it’s really easy to halve for 2 or double up for lots!

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon each of mustard seeds & cumin seeds (optional)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
2 x 400g tins of chickpeas
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
½ – 1 teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon chilli powder (or less if you don’t want too much heat)
1 and ½ heaped teaspoons cumin
1 tablespoon tomato puree
Lemon juice
Fresh or dried coriander
2-3 big handfuls of spinach leaves

  • Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan and add the mustard and cumin seeds (if using). Once the seeds start to brown and the mustard seeds start popping (you’ll want to put a lid on the saucepan if you do use mustard seeds!) then add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is just starting to go a nice golden colour.
  • Add the chopped tomatoes and the chickpeas. Mix these in well and then add the salt, garam masala, chilli and cumin. Leave to cook on a medium heat for a few minutes then taste to make sure you’re happy with the spices – add more if you want at this stage.
  • Next add the tomato puree and a few generous splashes of lemon juice. If using fresh coriander then rinse, chop or shred by hand and mix in at this stage. For dried coriander I would use about ¾ of a tablespoon.
  • When the spinach is added is really personal preference – I mix it in after the coriander as I like the spinach cooked into the curry. Alternative you can add it about 5 minutes before taking the curry off the heat so that it’s only just wilted.
  • Cook on a low to medium heat for about 30mins, stirring every 5-10mins. If the chickpeas start to stick to the bottom of the pan then add a few splashes of water. Once you can squash a chickpea relatively easily (using the back of a spoon against the side of the pan is my way of testing) then it’s ready.

I usually serve this with basmati rice and some natural yogurt, but naan or pitta bread works just as well. Or even just eating it straight out of a bowl with a spoon on some occasions!

So, are you a curry fan? Or vegetarian perhaps? Either way, I’d love to hear from you with your Friday Food recipes, sweet or savoury, small bites or baked goods. I warn you now, next weeks is a baker’s (and chocoholic’s,) dream….

Love,
Rebecca
xo

Friday Food: Ottolenghi Barley Risotto

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Happy Friday everyone!

We’ve got vegetarians coming for dinner next Thursday, and in honour of them I will be making Yotam Ottolenghi barley, tomato and garlic risotto.  This recipe is one tracked down after Mr C-S and I had been out to dinner, to a lovely restaurant, with a big group of people. Some of the guests we knew, some we didn’t.  One woman we hadn’t met before (our friends are mostly used to us) ordered a barley risotto, and barely touched it.   There it sat, looking creamy and amazing.  Mr C-S nudged me in the ribs.  I nudged him back.  Say it! He said. You say it! I said.  Finally, a waitress came and cleared the table.  Was there something wrong with your risotto? She asked.  No, said the woman, it was gorgeous, I’m just not very hungry.  Mr C-S and I watched as the waitress took it back to the kitchen.  He sighed.  All you had to say to her, he said to me in mournful tones, all you had to say, and then I could have tried it, was ‘are you going to eat that?’

A quick google the following morning turned up the following recipe on the Guardian website.  Now that I’ve made it quite a few times, I add in two small onions and am generous with the lemon zest and chilli powder, but I’d suggest sticking pretty closely to the set quantities the first time around.


Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil, plus an extra trickle at the end
2 whole heads garlic, cloves separated, peeled and quartered
750g fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped
200g passata
½ tsp smoky paprika
⅛ tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tbsp picked thyme
4 strips fresh lemon zest
1½ tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
270g pearl barley, well rinsed in cold water and drained
Roughly 200ml water
20g chopped coriander leaves, plus extra to garnish
Black pepper
200g feta, crumbled roughly

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan and sauté the garlic quarters for about two minutes, or until golden. Add the tomatoes, passata, paprika, chilli, thyme, lemon zest, sugar, salt, barley and a ladleful of water; stir and bring the mix to a simmer. Cook over minimal heat for 50-60 minutes, until the barley is tender but still firm to the bite. You’ll need to stir it from time to time, so it doesn’t stick to the pan, and add water occasionally, making sure there is always just enough liquid left in the pot to cook the barley. At the end of the cooking, the mix should be runny enough easily to spoon into bowls.

Once done, remove the pan from the heat, stir in the coriander and some freshly ground black pepper. Add most of the feta, stir gently so the cheese doesn’t break up too much and stays in largish chunks, taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.

Spoon into serving bowls, sprinkle with the reserved feta and coriander, and drizzle over a little olive oil.

I promise that this isn’t nearly as fiddly as it may seem, and it will satisfy even the most ardent of meat lovers.  Or risotto-made-from-rice lovers, come to that.  It’s become a real healthy comfort food in our house.  What’s your best comfort food recipe? Share it with us in the comments!

Love, Gemma C-S

Friday Food: Sweet Potato Gnocci

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Images by Simone Anne Lang

Todays recipe comes from Design Sponge where it was submitted by Simone Anne Lang. I love this new take on the classic comfort food that for me is right up there with mashed potato and ice cream, Gnocci. Instead of being made from ordinary potato however, it’s made from Sweet Potato, naturally higher in vitamins. It’s all about the five a day people!


Images by Simone Anne Lang

I really like simple, wholesome recipes and whilst this one isn’t easy, I’m sure it could be adapted to using shop bought gnocchi (although that’s not quite the point…) In my kitchen there’s definitely a repertoire of easy quick week-night dishes and also few favourites that require TLC and friends to chat with whilst cooking. This one definitely falls into the later category but I’m pretty darn sure if you can master it, you’d be feeling pretty proud of yourself!

Have you ever made your own Gnocci? I’d love to hear if anyone has a fool proof recipe for regular Gnocci – send it in!

Love,
Rebecca
xo

PS – Just a reminder, its a new season and I’m waiting to hear from any of you who might have a recipe to share, something light and fresh, a favourite salad, barbecue goodness, or just a tried and tested family favourite. Please drop me an email on hello@florencefinds.com with the subject titled SUBMISSIONS and if you’re interested in any other ways you could get involved check out the other submissions I accept here.