A splendid dinner for one. Savoury and moreish, you’ll be so pleased you didn’t settle for a ready meal. Using sushi nori sheets is a really simple, accessible and delicious way to introduce seaweed into your diet. Ingredients 1 aubergine 3 slices halloumi cheese 1 teaspoon pickled ginger, finely chopped (or 1 teaspoon fresh ginger,…
Category: 30 minutes or quicker
Quick creamy mushroom and olive pasta
Very close to a stroganoff, but even slightly quicker. I challenge you to miss meat while eating this savoury, comforting dinner. Serves 4, generously Ingredients 500g mushrooms, sliced 4 tablespoons olives, well rinsed and roughly chopped 2 teaspoons thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 1 teaspoon paprika 150ml double cream or…
Low sugar chocolate chip oat biscuits
I had a hankering for chocolately oat/digestive biscuits, and I’m now struggling to keep my hands off these. Fortunately there’s only a tablespoon of sugar in the whole lot, so they’re a perfectly reasonable snack that I predict are going to be made pretty regularly. Dark chocolate makes them taste more grown up and,…
Giant oven baked potato rosti
A simple supper, making something out of almost nothing. It’s categorised under ’30 minutes or quicker’, but it’s on the cusp – 20 of that’s in the oven though, so you can just have a sit down. Serves 4 Basic ingredients 800g potato 1 egg 1 onion Black pepper & salt A knob of butter…
Banana pancakes
These have been made too frequently in the short time since I remembered about them; I’m almost sick of them already. Almost. Our local greengrocer has a box of squashy cut-price bananas which I raid almost daily to use in kefir smoothies, banana ice cream (i.e. frozen bananas chucked in the blender) and porridge; they’re…
Thai-meets-Scottish crab cakes to celebrate Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight
The approaching end of Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight prompted me to devise this recipe showcasing one of my favourite local ingredients – crab. Our house in East Lothian almost dips its toes into the North Sea, and fishing boats are a common sight from our windows. Though there’s little white fish left, mackerel, langoustine and crab remain plentiful, the…
Sweet potato and chickpea burgers with halloumi
This is an incredibly cheap, quick, healthy and satisfying meal (don’t scrimp on the cheese). In these hastily executed dinner photos I decided to add the halloumi to the side salad – this was a mistake. It’s much better in the burger. The burgers would also be a great kid’s or weaning meal, and freeze…
Huevos Rancheros
Huevos rancheros, or ‘rancher’s eggs’, is the original Mexican brunch: a big mid-morning meal designed to keep farm workers going. Nowadays brunch more likely means a late night requires a spicy, filling hangover cure, but don’t feel bad about it: this is still better for you than a fry up, just as satisfying and as easy to make. Equally splendid as…
Haemul pajeon – Korean seafood pancake
This rainy-day Korean snack is a favourite dinner of ours – we call it ‘humpty pigeon’, after my husband mis-read the meals blackboard. Healthy comfort food, it’s an omelette pancake based on spring onions and seafood: ‘pa’ means spring onion, ‘jeon’ pancake, and ‘haemul’ seafood. It’s usually made with shrimp or prawns among the seafood,…
Umami fried gnocchi with capers, olives and mushrooms
Ok, it’s not as healthy as boiled gnocchi, but when fried you get that holy grail of crispy on the outside and fluffy within…covered with this seriously savoury sauce, my life-long gnocchi agnostic husband was won over (he’d been hoping I’d just bake the potatoes and stop there). Baking the potatoes might seem like a hassle, but…
Olive, caper, walnut and herb sauce (for pasta/cous cous/quinoa/bruscetta)
A store-cupboard sauce based on salsa verde, for when you need something quick, flavoursome and can’t be bothered to go shopping. It’s also a handy way to use up that jar of capers lurking at the back of the fridge, and it will freeze well. Ingredients Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon 75g walnuts Small…
Walnut Pesto Two Ways
Two versions that put a quick, healthy, cheaper spin on the usual basil & pine nuts variety – this makes an ideal week-night dinner, and spare pesto will keep well in the freezer. It’s a good way to get healthy nuts into babies and young children, but don’t serve it to babies under six months…
Time to Cook 