The Healthy Way to do Chilli

Spicy Turkey Chilli

I've been adjusting my eating habits for a quite a while now and I'm now approaching the two stone mark on my weight loss journey... makes me happy and quite proud, although these things take time. I try not to deprive myself (see my dinner on Monday) as I think that leads to failure and I hate to fail.

One thing I look to do is to make healthy versions of my favourite meals or to replicate great healthy meals that I have out. Chilli is a favourite of mine and I used to love eating a really slow cooked chilli full of beef, chorizo and red wine smothered with sour cream and cheese and preferably served over a jacket potato. Hello calories, fat and carbs....  and I wonder why I put on weight. Duh!

So here is my alternative- a yummy chilli made from turkey mince (which is a great ingredient for all you dieters out there). Mine is pretty spicy so adjust the spice ratios if you want it a bit milder. Feel free to add whatever veggies you like to bulk this up - its a great way to clear the contents of the veg drawer.  I served this with gem lettuce leaves (zero carbs and means I can justify a small sprinkling of cheese) but other healthy alternatives would be a baked Sweet Potato or some Bulgar Wheat.

Turkey Chilli 

Serves around 4 to 6 depending on how hungry people are!
300g Turkey Mince 

2 onion, chopped 

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

1 fresh red chilli, chopped finely

1 Green Pepper & 1/2 Orange Pepper, cut into chunks

1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped

2 TBSP Tomato puree 

2 TSP Cumin

2 TSP chilli powder 

2 TSP Paprika 

1 tin chopped tomatoes 

200g Kidney beans, drained 

Olive Oil

S&P

Simmering away in the pan 

Fry off the onion, garlic and chilli, add the pepper, carrot and celery and allow them all to soften. Add the turkey mince and cook for around 10 mins, stirring occasionally. Once the mince is cooked then add the spices and puree and cook for a few minutes. Season. Add tomatoes and then leave to cook for 30 mins or so - simmering over a low heat. Add the drained kidney beans and cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve with gem lettuce leaves, some Greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of cheese. 

Messy but yummy!

This Dish has been picked as a featured favourite for Delicious Dish Tuesday! Thanks so much guys.... I encourage everyone to get involved - its a great link up!

Linking up with Alesha for Delicious Dish Tuesday

St Patrick’s Day Shepherds Pie and random musings on corned beef

I’m late as ever to hop on to the Bandwagon. St Paddy’s Day. When I was a uni this used to be a big deal in my life. Now it’s not. I think the Americans get way more excited than the English about this day. The only whiff of it I got were a few random big hats on drunken men as I walked through London on the actual day. That and the huge amount of people mentioning it in blogs; American blogs of course. Lots of green food and corned beef. American corned beef looks so much different from English corned beef;
 

English Corned Beef

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Mainly used in sandwiches and corned beef hash

American Corned beef

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Apparently you guys have it with cabbage?!
 

The mind boogles. And what I really want to know is what is Irish corned beef? Whose right and who’s wrong. Thank goodness for Google and these dudes have explained the differences to me. Thank you Google.

Anyho, I digress, which is standard for me, sometimes I even interrupt myself, it’s not great. The entire paddy’s day chat made me think of another classic Irish recipe – Shepherds Pie. I remember having this a lot as a child and its one very easy but yummy dish. And anything with mash potato on has my vote. The layer of leeks really adds a different dimension to the dish and I recommend you give it a go, you wont look back. I make my shepherds pie with beef mince rather than lamb – which technically makes it cottage pie but I grew up knowing this as shepherds pie and so shepherds pie it remains.

So here’s the thing about my Shepherds Pie - I keep it so very simple. No fancy herbs and spices. No peas in with the mince, no twists or turns. This is simplicity at its best, meaty and comforting and very easy to make.

Shepherds Pie

Serves approx 4

500g Beef Mince

1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
500ml stock (beef preferable but chicken or veg will work fine)
2TBSP tomato puree
Few dashes of Worcester sauce
Couple of gluts of red wine
1TSP Marmite (the British in me shines through, this is optional of course)
2 leeks
3TBSP Butter
Milk, I used skimmed
Grated cheese, I used strong Irish cheddar
 S&P

Start by sautéing the onions and carrots in a bit of oil over a medium heat. Once they have softened add in the mince and let it brown off. Add in the wine and the tomato puree and let it reduce by about half. Add in the stock, Worcester sauce and marmite and then allow it to simmer gently for a good 30-45mins. Season.

 In the mean time boil up some potatoes (I used a couple of big potatoes) and then mash them with a couple TBSP of butter, milk, a twist of salt and lots of black pepper.

As well as this, melt 1TBSP butter and a dash of oil in a pan and cook of the leeks until they are soft. I added a bit of wine to help them along!

Take an oven proof dish and spread out the mince mixture, then put the leeks on top and spread them out and then top with mash potato. Sprinkle with the cheese and then place in an oven 180° for about 30mins or if you’ve chilled it first then put it in for 45 mins or so until it is hot and bubbling.

I always had this with peas or baked beans when I was little and lots of tomato ketchup. This time I had with broccoli and sprouts and lots of tomato ketchup!

Pancakes Galore



Posh Pancakes!!

So it was Shrove Tuesday the other day, otherwise known as Pancake Day, otherwise known as the only day of the year I ever seem to eat pancakes even though I do really like them!

My housemate P and I decided to go a bit upmarket with our pancakes this year - its great living with another foodie, we eat well in our house. This recipe also has by far the easiest method for making hollandaise sauce that I ever tried, bonus! Admittedly this recipe is not healthy in the slightest, but the whole idea of Pancake Day is to use up all your rich food,  I don't have a problem with having this as a treat on a special occasion.

Posh Pancakes: Asparagus and Speck Pancake Recipe

Original recipe that we have tweaked a little can be found here, Thanks Simon!

You will need:
(Pancake batter)
100g flour
2 large eggs
salt
250ml milk
50g melted butter

This made around 8 pancakes, we only used 4 for the recipe and then the rest we had for pudding with brandy cream and golden syrup (yes I'm eating salad all week) 

(hollendaise sauce)

3 large egg yolk

250g butter, melted (the recipe said to use unsalted but we used salted and it is indeed a whole packet of butter)

½ lemon, juiced

S&P

 

8 slices of Speck (the original recipe uses parma ham but we found the speck just has a lovely smokiness that sets this dish off)

8 Asparagus Spears, blanched

Parmesan cheese (this makes all the difference, even though its not in the original recipe)

 

Make your pancake batter by just dumping all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisking until smooth, then cover and put in fridge. Blanch the asparagus spears in boiling salted water for a few minutes and then put in cold water until you need them.

To make the hollendaise; melt the butter by putting it in a microwavable dish and zapping until melted, set aside.  Take the egg yolks, add a tablespoon of cold water in a saucepan and whisk over a very low heat until it becomes smooth and thickens this took a good four to five minutes. Remove from heat and then slowly dribble in the melted butter (making sure you don't get any of the scummy white butter residue) whisking all the time. Once it has all been incorporated add the lemon juice and S&P and whisk again. Set aside.

 

 

Take your asparagus spears and wrap a piece of speck around each spear. Take the pancake batter, put a little butter or oil in the pan and make your pancakes! P was an expert as this and did some great pancake flipping! once your pancake is done take two of the speck wrapped spears of asparagus and place in the middle of the pancake, grate some Parmesan over and then wrap the sides over and place in buttered oven dish. Repeat another 3 times so you have 4 pancakes and then put the dish in the oven for 20 minutes on a moderate heat until the pancakes have crisped up.

Warm the hollendaise sauce through, very gently whisking all the time. Take the pancakes from the oven and add the hollendaise sauce, we think this works better then flash grilling it as the recipe suggests.

 

Warming Autumn Supper

This dinner is one of my favourites; its perfect for these dark, rainy, cold November evenings. The rich colours make this dish make you feel warm just looking at it and it tastes just splendid (plus uses up the glut of cherry tomatoes I received in my veg box this week)! Like a lot of my dishes it's pretty easy and even better its all in one tray - saves on washing up!
Credit to Jamie Oliver for the origins of the dish but I've always put my own spin on it, as I share with you now;

Sticky Autumn Sausages

6-8 sausages (I used Cumberland)
Around 1kg cherry tomatoes, halved
2 large carrots, halved then cut into chunks
1 large red onion, cut into sixths
2-3 cloves garlic (leave skins on just crush them a bit)
2 sprigs of thyme, 2 of rosemary
3 bay leaves
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
seasoning
sweet potato
butter

So very simply put the tomatoes, other veg, garlic and herbs in to a baking tray. Coat liberally in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Mix everything together (I use my hands for this its so much easier)

Prick each sausage a couple of times and then place them on the tomatoes.

Place in oven at 200oC for 30mins then take the tray out, give it a good shake and turn the sausages. Put back in the oven for another 30mins. In this time you can boil up some sweet potato, then mash it up with some butter and lots of black pepper (alternatively you could serve with normal mash, jacket potato, pasta or some crusty bread). Take the tray out of the oven, remove the sausages and then stir up all the tomatoes and veg so it is a nice thick, rich sauce. Serve this over the mashed sweet potato and feel yourself and your heart warm up....

 

Perfect cure the evening after the night before

It was a rather long day in the office, which let's be honest may not have been helped by me suffering from a slight hangover after a rather boozy but rather brilliant night round my best friend's house (shots of Ameretto and Malibu on a Wednesday night is I admit rather excessive).  So whenever I'm feeling a bit like this my body either craves something really spicy and cleansing or stodge and on this occasion it was most definitely stodge.....
Perfect stodge and all round comfort food is mashed potato, and I'm a complete traditionalist here- quite simply I boil up the potatoes, drain, whilst they are in the colander i bang the pan back on the hob, warm some butter and either cream or milk, add the potatoes back in and get to work rather aggressively with the masher (as the potato ricer is being held hostage at my friend Amy Lou Lou's - she loves bragging about her perfectly smooth mash), season with sea salt and rather a lot of pepper and bish bash bosh after rather a lot of crashing around i have my perfect mash.
But as much as i love my mash the steak and peppercorn source were the stars of this dish so i share my perfect steak dinner recipe with you, although i say its perfect but I'm still thinking of tweaks now, I'm nothing if not open to suggestions!

Steak Supper (Steak and Peppercorn Sauce)

a good piece of steak (I went for rump- lush)
couple of shallots, finely chopped
fat clove of garlic finely chopped
100ml chicken stock (cube is fine for this)
100ml of wine or I think 50ml of brandy will work just as well, when i try it i will let you know!
Green Peppercorns in brine - now I'm not going to tell you how many you should use as its all to taste I'm a complete pepper addict so i use about a tablespoon but looking at other recipes it tends to be a couple of teaspoons. what i would suggest is that you drain them and pat them on a bit of kitchen paper so you don't get the taste of brine in the sauce.
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp double cream (extra thick stuff even better here)

Get your pan nice and hot add a knob of butter and a glug of olive oil, throw in your steak and cook to your requirement I wanted medium rare so went for 3 minutes each side but to be honest given that you leave the meat to rest a while I'd next time just go 2 1/2 on each side. So cook your steak and then leave it to rest on a board. In the pan throw the shallots and garlic in with the juices and a little extra butter cook on high heat, stirring constantly for a couple of minutes then add your wine / brandy and stock. let it bubble away manicly until liquid has reduced by at least half then stir in your peppercorns, mustard and cream. Let it all warm through and you're all ready to go!