Turning Over a New Leaf

Everyone starts a new year with new hopes and sometimes new resolutions. I start each new year now with a feeling of anticipation of new adventures to come.
No more so than this year, which promises to be full of new experiences and hopefully plenty of good things.

The market bursting with green veg

For one thing, we are back in the land of lovely fruit and veg, markets and salads so where better to begin this year's blog posts but with a leafy green theme.

'The land of lovely fruit and veg, markets and salads'

Salade Italienne in a local cafe

I came back from last Friday's market with a good haul of veg- all of it still with it's leafy tops on as you can see.

My vegetable shopping

The turnips, radishes and heritage carrots were going to be roasted to have with chicken but their green tops (radish and turnip tops that is) are a much underused ingredient.

Just wash them thoroughly, chop and steam. I like to add spring onion tops or leeks to this and pop a teabag (Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong) into the steaming water for a sweet and aromatic accompaniment.

Tea steamed greens

Roasted roots and radishes

Any leftover radishes, onions or greens went into a Miso Noodle Soup the next day: cook a nest of egg noodles per person, drain and reserve the cooking water.

Add a heaped tablespoon of miso paste and another of soy sauce to the water and place to heat.

Stir fry the veg you want to use- radishes, peppers, carrot, spring onions, green tops or even lettuce, add leftover chicken if you have it and then assemble your dish.

In the bottom of each soup bowl, put noodles, chicken and veg and then spoon over the hot broth. Serve with extra soy sauce on the side.

Miso Noodle Soup

Whilst we are talking about cooking lettuce, here are a few ideas for using up tired salad leaves:

Fry an onion with some garlic and then add the lettuce to the frying pan and cook until wilted.

Meanwhile, put a few potatoes on to boil (or use up any leftover cooked ones), warm up some chicken or vegetable stock (I still had leftover miso broth from last night), add the potatoes, the lettuce and onions, some chopped parsley or any other leafy green herb you have, blitz with a stick blender or in a liquidiser, add a little milk or cream to serve.

McGregor Soup

I've called this McGregor Soup, as it has the flavour of sorrel and parsley, or even watercress - delicate but very tasty - and would appeal to the discernng human or rabbit alike!

Cooked lettuce is quite cheffy these days. I saw them serving it on Professional Masterchef. Cos or Little Gem seem to be the thing, blowtorched to give them a caramelized look and then added to other veg. Just mix it into peas or leeks for a fresh tasting dish- and no leafy greens wasted!

Quiche aux Blettes
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/2015/09/food-from-friends.html

I have finished up the week with some old favourites: Endives with Ham and Cheese Sauce ( I promised my husband that I would make this as soon as we were back in France) and Quiche aux Blettes (Swiss Chard tart). Click on the link below the pictures for the recipes.

Endives with Ham and Cheese Sauce
http://lizsleftovers.blogspot.fr/2015/01/comfort-food.html

I hope this has inspired you to eat up your greens, and certainly not to throw them away. If any of you resolved to try to lose weight in 2016, then I hope these recipes help with that too.

Perhaps not the ones smothered in cheese sauce though.

Week 21- Healthy Take on the Takeaway

In the UK we do love a takeaway meal.

26% of the population eat one at least once a week- and an astonishing 1 in 10 people eat one more than twice a week.

Although, 'can't be bothered to cook' is the most often cited reason for this- there are other reasons too. The food is tasty, often can be delivered to your home when you're tired or unwell, and the people in the small shops and restaurants work hard and long for their profits.

The problem is that the 'tastiness' comes from that hit of fat, salt, sugar and flavour enhancers which ultimately is not good for your health. The food is often deep fried, and the provenance and usage of the oil is outside of your control too.

So, this week I am preparing a menu of favourite takeaway-style Oriental food- to show that it can be very healthy and very easy to prepare.



Starter is miso soup with 'pot sticker' dim sum, followed by yasai yaki soba ( a vegetable stir fry with buckwheat noodles) and crispy chilli beef (yes- deep fried, it is supposed to be a treat- but you can control the amount and type of oil) and followed with an exotic fruit salad with ice cream and toasted coconut.

For the pot stickers, I am using minced turkey, which is low in fat, for the filling. Mix the meat together with some soy sauce, finely chopped spring onion, a little garlic and a few breadcrumbs to make a burger-like consistency. (Indeed you can keep any unused mixture and make it into burgers in a bun for tomorrow night's meal). Form into small sausages and leave to chill in the fridge.

Defrost 2 spring roll wrappers (or filo sheets) and keep covered with a damp tea towel whilst you work. Place the 'sausage' in on half of the square, brush the edges of the wrapper with a 'glue' of cornflour and water and then fold and seal a bit like a pasty.

Brush the 'pasties' with a little oil on either side and then fry them gently in a frying pan. When lightly brown on each side, turn off the heat, put on a tight fitting lid and leave to steam for 5 minutes to cook the filling through.

Serve with miso soup: you can buy jars of miso paste in most supermarkets. A jar will last for ages in the fridge, once opened. Put one heaped dessertspoon of the paste per person into 500ml of boiling water, add some chopped spring onion and a handful of beansprouts and serve immediately.

Miso soup with dim sum

The noodles are quick and simple to prepare too- just boil them for a couple of minutes in a pan (no need for salt), drain and refresh with cold water in a colander. Meanwhile, stir fry peppers, beansprouts and spring onions in a wok, add 1 beaten egg mixed with a tablespoon of soy sauce and stir until the egg is cooked and evenly distributed. Mix in the drained noodles and add a dressing of your choice: soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, peanut butter (for a satay style sauce) etc Decorate with crispy onions and sesame seeds.

Yasai yaki soba

For the crispy chilli beef- cut one sandwich or flash fry steak into very thin strips. Marinade these for a short while in soy sauce, then toss in cornflour until coated. Heat an inch of vegetable oil in a wok until smoking and then add the beef piece by piece and fry quickly ( a very few minutes ) until golden and crisp. Lift out the pieces and drain them thoroughly on kitchen paper. Heat your favourite chilli (or black bean or hoi sin sauce) in a pan and coat the beef with sauce.

Crispy chilli beef

Exotic fruit salad

For dessert, a fruit salad is a refreshing choice. I prowl around the aisles of the supermarket looking for fruit which is reduced as it is a bit bruised or overripe- today's haul brought me kiwis, pineapple and mango- which I added to grapes, mandarins and strawberries. Topped with vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of toasted coconut- ( dessicated coconut dry-fried for 1 minute in a pan, stirring all the time, until it starts to brown lightly then removed immediately from the heat.)

Quite a feast- I hope you agree. If I had bought this from my local takeaway (not counting pudding which isn't available)  it would have cost : £12.50. If I had eaten in at Wagamamas, it would have been around £35 for two.

Making it myself cost: just under £7 for two. Plus, there is leftover stir fry to make noodle soup tomorrow, leftover fruit salad for my lunchbox and another meal of turkey burgers for tomorrow night.

If you would like to see more takeaway-style recipes, I have begun pinning them on my pinterest boards at http://pinterest.com/leftoverliz/takeaway-ideas/

Live long and prosper!